PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Observant people who spotted tire tracks leaving a roadway led to the rescue of a 56-year-old man who had been reported missing 5 days ago in Cowlitz County.
After the 911 call came in around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, crews from Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue were sent to the 4900 block of Sunset Way. They spotted a pickup truck on its wheels about 150 feet down a steep and wooded ravine. Firefighters made their way through waist-deep brush and, to their surprise, found the man — later identified as Danny Sansbury — alive but seriously injured and ill, authorities said in a release.
A man reported missing 5 days before was found alive but seriously hurt down a ravine in Cowlitz County, May 21, 2023 (Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue) 
A man reported missing 5 days before was found alive but seriously hurt down a ravine in Cowlitz County, May 21, 2023 (Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue) 
A man reported missing 5 days before was found alive but seriously hurt down a ravine in Cowlitz County, May 21, 2023 (Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue) 
A man reported missing 5 days before was found alive but seriously hurt down a ravine in Cowlitz County, May 21, 2023 (Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue) 
A 56-year-old man was rescued 5 days after crashing this pickup down a ravine in Cowlitz County, May 21, 2023 (Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue)
“I looked down there, and I still can’t believe he survived for 6 days like that,” said Terri Peck, who said she has known the man for 30 years.
“So, when he came up missing, we all just went, ‘there’s definitely something wrong. There’s something wrong,'” Peck said. “I said, ‘I know he is in a ravine. He has to be.’ There was no other explanation. So, I started looking for him up and down a couple of ravines, and then they said they found them on Sunset.”
Rope rescue teams from the Longview Fire Department were called to help. Extra fire trucks were brought to the scene to help get Sansbury up the hillside after he was removed from the pickup.
Once up the hill, an ambulance took the man to a school, where he was airlifted by Life Flight to Peace Health Southwest for emergency care.
Officials said the entire mission took an hour from the time he was spotted to the moment he was airlifted. But after 5 days in the elements, Peck said the rescue couldn’t come fast enough.
“I just want to cry to death, just knowing that he was here for 6 days by himself. You know, it’s really hard to think that he was down there,” she told KOIN 6 News. “I don’t know if he was upside down or what, but we all knew that somebody had to get to him quick because we knew he wasn’t going to have much more time.”
Sansbury is currently in critical condition, KOIN 6 News learned. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
KOIN 6 News will have more information later.
