The story of Tanya Ryder, who spent 8 days in a car that fell into a ravine

Dangers lurk on the road where we least expect them. Even drivers who drive the same route day after day must be extremely careful to avoid life-threatening situations. American Tanya Rider could not imagine that a routine trip to work could turn into a deadly adventure, from which she managed to escape alive only by a miracle.

Tanya, 33, and Tom, 38, moved to the small town of Maple Valley, Washington, in 2007. The couple had been together for 8 years, and for most of that time they had been traveling around the United States in search of a place where they would feel comfortable. This move was supposed to be their last — the couple really liked Maple Valley and decided to buy a plot of land and build a house on it.

The purchase of the land had depleted Tom and Tanya's savings, and there was still construction ahead. So each of the spouses took on several jobs to make their lifelong dream of their own cozy home come true as soon as possible. Tanya Ryder found a job as an assistant in the fitting rooms of the Nordstrom Rack clothing store, and worked as a cashier at a supermarket at night. Tom got a job as a foreman at a construction site, and at night and on weekends he delivered pizza.

The tight work schedule and the difference in night shifts sometimes prevented the husband and wife from seeing each other for several days. Moreover, the couple could not always afford to call each other and exchange a few words. It was this rhythm of life that caused the incident that Tanya and Tom will never forget.

On the morning of September 20, 2007, Tanya Ryder finished her shift at Fred Myer, signed her log, and got into her blue Honda Element at 9 a.m. Surveillance cameras in the parking lot recorded the woman's car pulling out onto the highway and heading home.

The journey took Tanya 45 minutes and when she arrived home, Tom had already left for work. In the evening, when he came home, he was not surprised that his wife was absent, since she had two more night shifts in a row. In order not to distract his beloved, he did not call her during working hours and therefore he realized it only two days later. On September 22, the administrator from the supermarket called him and said that Tanya had missed two shifts and was not answering her calls.

The man immediately realized that something out of the ordinary had happened, since Tanya would never have missed work without a reason. Tom calls the police, but they tell him that they have not recorded any incidents involving a woman similar to Tanya. Tom calls the city's hospitals and even prisons, but no one has seen his wife.

A second call to the police again yielded no results - the duty officer only advised the worried husband to call the girl's relatives and friends. Tom said that Tanya had not communicated with her relatives for many years and had no time for her friends, but this was not an argument for the police.

He had to contact the police a third time, after calling all of his wife's possible contacts. This time, he was told that Tanya did not seem like a person prone to suicide, criminal behavior, or vagrancy, and therefore, perhaps, she had simply decided to leave her husband. Having made sure that the police were not planning to launch a search, Tom began searching himself. He walked the route Tanya used to get to work dozens of times, but found not a single clue.

Tom then goes to the media and asks them to spread the word about a woman who has gone missing in the Maple Valley area. The man offers $25,000 for information about the missing woman — all the money they had saved for their dream home. Soon, Tanya's face is familiar to everyone in Washington State who owns a TV, but no one can remember seeing her in the last few days.

On September 24, 2007, four days after Tanya Ryder's disappearance, her husband managed to file a missing persons report with the police. The first thing a detective did was come to the Ryder's house to search, carefully examined the missing woman's belongings, but found nothing suspicious. Then the police turned to Tom, as one of Tanya's colleagues called the department and reported that he suspected a man of murdering his wife. Grief-stricken Ryder had to take a lie detector test to clear himself of suspicion.

Meanwhile, the search was very sluggish and was limited to questioning neighbors, colleagues, and local gas station operators. The police also contacted the mobile operator whose services the missing woman used, but they refused to cooperate without an official request from the prosecutor, which was difficult to obtain in this case without victims.

On September 27, after the document from the highest authority was finally sent to the cellular company Verizon Wireless. They reported that the phone signal was present for several days, and then disappeared. Tom knew all this without the provider - he dialed his wife's number several times a day, but in response he heard beeps or an answering machine. Then, apparently, the battery of the gadget died.

But detailed analysis showed that the last signal came from Tanya's phone within a 2-mile radius of the Fred Myer supermarket. This was the area that the search parties needed to inspect. The search, which had been delayed for a long time, was quickly crowned with success. On September 28, Tanya Ryder's crumpled and overturned car was found in a ravine overgrown with blackberry bushes next to the road.

The woman was inside, hanging on the seatbelts and alive. Tanya Ryder was carefully removed and taken to the hospital. The woman's condition was extremely serious - she had broken ribs, a collarbone, several vertebrae, and her leg in several places. For all 8 days, the limb was trapped under the dashboard of the car, which is why blood circulation in it was disrupted.

Tanya's body was so dehydrated that her kidneys failed. This was the most serious problem for the doctors, but they dealt with it. They also managed to save her almost hopeless leg, which they initially wanted to amputate. When the victim was able to answer questions, she said that she did not remember the moment of the accident. All that remained in her mind were the endless ringing of her mobile phone, which flew off to the other end of the car upon impact, as well as hunger and excruciating thirst.

Two days after the accident, Tanya began to hallucinate. She saw her long-dead dog, walked through a green meadow, and talked to the police on the phone. During one of these visions, she heard a member of the search team scream, "She's alive!"

Doctors are sure that if the woman had not been found that day, she would have been dead the next day. After being discharged from the hospital, Tanya Ryder had to undergo several serious rehabilitation courses. She learned to walk and use her hands again, and she was also plagued by psychological problems.

Miraculously saved Tanya is grateful to her husband for keeping the police working, even though it took eight long days. Ironically, the operation to find the missing woman took law enforcement and volunteers only 20 minutes.

Even more amazing is the story of a Swede who spent 2 months in a snow-covered car in the middle of a forest, at temperatures of minus 30 degrees, quenching his hunger and thirst only with snow.