16-year-old Autumn Veatch and her step-grandparents were flying on a personal small aircraft from Kalispell, Montana to Washington State on Saturday when the GPS started to cut out. Her step-grandfather Leiland Bowman was piloting the plane.
Visibility was reduced to zero when white clouds began to surround the aircraft and the GPS stopped working. Bowman decided to fly higher to avoid the mountains, but it was too late. The aircraft collided in to a mountain side, and Autumn was the only one to make it out alive.
“I got out”, Autumn shared with CNN. “There was fire. That’s how my face got burned. My hair was burning. … And — my immediate response was to go and try to help them out. Because they were alive. They were alive. They were both screaming,” she said.
Because of the intensity of the fire, it was impossible for Autumn to reach and pull her grandparents to safety. She had no choice but to leave and try to find help for herself. Suffering burns to her body, she decided to hike down the mountain side to see if she could find running water.
“Water always leads to civilization,” she said.
After two days of hiking and sleeping on sandbanks where bugs bit her while she slept, she eventually found a stream which led to a river, which eventually led to a highway where she signaled for help. Cars just passed her by, and it took over an hour before two men offered her help. She was able to contact authorities from a small store they drove her to, where they bought her a sandwich.
Autumn now has a long recovery ahead of her, not only physically but emotionally. Her father said their first priority right now is to seek counseling to help her work through these horrifying events.
“This really gave me a newfound respect for life,” she said. “I have never loved being alive more.”
