Updated on: October 31, 2025 / 6:45 AM EDT / CBS/AFP
A French cyclist survived for three days after a horrendous 130-foot fall into a ravine, kept alive by the bottles of red wine he had in his shopping bag, police said.
The 77-year-old missed a bend on his bike on his way home from the supermarket on a lonely road in the mountainous Cevennes region, careening down a rocky slope and into the ravine near Saint-Julien-des-Points.
Unable to climb out, the man tried to shout every time a vehicle passed. But no one heard his cries.
As the hours turned into days, he was sustained by the bottles of wine he was taking home to his caravan, rescuers said.
Finally, passing roadworkers heard him yelling and spotted the twisted frame of his bicycle.
A helicopter airlifted him to hospital, w…
Updated on: October 31, 2025 / 6:45 AM EDT / CBS/AFP
A French cyclist survived for three days after a horrendous 130-foot fall into a ravine, kept alive by the bottles of red wine he had in his shopping bag, police said.
The 77-year-old missed a bend on his bike on his way home from the supermarket on a lonely road in the mountainous Cevennes region, careening down a rocky slope and into the ravine near Saint-Julien-des-Points.
Unable to climb out, the man tried to shout every time a vehicle passed. But no one heard his cries.
As the hours turned into days, he was sustained by the bottles of wine he was taking home to his caravan, rescuers said.
Finally, passing roadworkers heard him yelling and spotted the twisted frame of his bicycle.
A helicopter airlifted him to hospital, with rescue doctor Laurent Savath calling his survival “a miracle ... given the cold and the rain, with almost nothing to eat or drink” other than the wine.
“He is really tough,” the doctor added. “He fell into a stream several times trying to scramble back up, so was at risk of hypothermia.”
The cyclist ultimately escaped his predicament with minor injuries and mild hypothermia, according to the French outlet Entrevue.
This isn’t the first time a person has endured harsh conditions with a bottle of wine. In 2023, a woman who went missing for five days in the Australian bushland was found alive after surviving for five days on lollipops and wine. The 48-year-old woman was finally located in dense bushland after she took a wrong turn, ended up on a dead-end road and her car got stuck in mud.