"The girl was weak, bitten by insects, but most importantly alive!"
A 22-month-old Russian toddler has been found after miraculously surviving three nights alone in the woods, rescuers said.
Lyudmila (Lyuda) Kuzina went missing in the Smolensk area – around 400km west of Mosco – last Tuesday after wandering away from her family.
Over 1,000 people were involved in round-the-clock search efforts, including volunteers and emergency personnel from the police service, the military and dive teams.
On Friday, rescue group
Salvar announced that Lyuda had been found 4km from its search-and-rescue headquarters.
In a post to social media, they said one of the search teams had stopped for a break and heard a quiet squeaking noise. They called back in response and heard it again.
“Lyuda was found in a windbreak where she strayed after several days wandering in the forest. The girl was weak, bitten by insects, but most importantly alive!” the post said.
When rescuers called her name, the child “immediately stretched out her thin arms to cling tightly to her rescuers.”
The rescue group also shared a video showing a woman, presumably Lyuda’s mother, carrying the girl out of a rescue vehicle.
The child was then taken to hospital as a precaution.
