A climber has been rescued after going missing for four days – having survived by sleeping between some rocks.
His rescue has been described as “looking for a grain of sand in the desert.”
Senen Turienzo was set to finish his mountain journey on Christmas Day.
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But when the 23-year-old failed to turn up at home, his brother Andres alerted emergency services.
Turienzo had been trekking the snowy Picos de Europa in Spain, a mountain range that extends over 12 miles.
He was scheduled to finish his journey between Bejes and Covadonga.
Emergency services activated a search operation on 25 December and extra personnel were deployed two days later due to the difficulty of the terrain.
After hearing a man shouting for help, they were able to locate Turienzo.
He was in the Jou de los Boches in the Eastern Massif, where there can be an avalanche risk.
The climber had suffered a heavy fall, as reported by Need To Know.
Rescuers found that he had head trauma, various contusions and fractures of the upper limbs.
Enrique Gonzalez, a ranger, was the last person to see Turienzo before he disappeared on 21 December.
He claimed the climber was not wearing the appropriate equipment for the expedition.
Turienzo was rushed by helicopter to the Central University Hospital of Asturias in Oviedo.
“He was saved by the desire to live that a 23-year-old boy has,” Javier Odriozola, who was part of the helicopter rescue team, told local press.
“I relayed the good news to Senen’s parents who were waiting at the operation command post.
“Picos is immense, people can’t even imagine it and it was like looking for a grain of sand in the desert.”
The Asturias government is said to be preparing a report on what happened and is not ruling out sending a bill to the climber.
Turienzo’s family on Friday thanked “all the people who cared and supported us” during the search for their son.
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