Man found alive after 5 days in desert

Henry Morello, 84, talked about his ordeal yesterday from the Phoenix hospital where he was being treated. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

Associated Press / February 17, 2011

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PHOENIX — Henry Morello prayed to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. But as the 84-year-old spent a fifth night stuck in a ditch in the Arizona desert, he started to lose hope.

“My phone went dead, my battery went dead, and I went dead,’’ Morello said.

But Morello lived to tell his tale Tuesday at a Phoenix hospital, where the diabetic man was admitted in good condition despite drinking windshield wiper fluid to stay hydrated.

He didn’t have water, Morello said, so he broke open the wiper fluid container with a rock and filtered it with napkin to try to make it safe.

Morello said he made a wrong turn while driving home Feb. 7 from the Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek and ended up stuck in the desert north of the city.

Morello said he became stranded when — realizing he took a wrong turn — he made a U-turn and wound up in a ditch. He tried to crawl out of the car, but did not get far and returned.

He ripped a chrome piece from his car and put it on the roof, hoping someone would see the reflection.

A pack of hikers found him Saturday morning. He heard a knock on a window, and suddenly his long, painful ordeal was over.

“I just kissed him,’’ Morello said of the hiker. “He looked like an angel to me.’’