A woman in her seventies reported missing for four days and found alive inside her vehicle said she managed to survive thanks to her grocery shopping.
Nicole Pinon, 73, was found inside her vehicle with a body temperature no higher than 27 degrees Celcius and was taken to the hospital for recovery.
Pinon had last been seen when she left her home in Dinant to go grocery shopping, accompanied by her dog, on the afternoon of 1 December, with the woman's son alerting the authorities of her disappearance.
The public prosecutor's office of Namur said it was "a small miracle" that the woman managed to survive in such conditions.
Pinon's son said his mother managed to survive for four days and four nights by eating the groceries she had with her, adding that she did not have a mobile phone with her at the time and that she had preferred staying in her vehicle, according to HLN.
On her way back from the supermarket, Pinon took an alternative route due to the presence of roadworks, with her son explaining that, in foggy conditions and with the arrival of night, his mother had "surely mistaken a dirt road with a road exit," according to 7sur7.
A jogger found her vehicle stuck in a slope in the dirt road with Pinon still conscious inside, accompanied by her dog, who also survived the ordeal.
"She is recovering slowly and is still in intensive care," Pinon's son said.
Pinon's disappearance comes after a similar incident took place in Wallonia, when a 45-year-old woman from Liege was found inside her car, where she managed to survive for at least six days without food or water in the middle of a fierce heatwave.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
