B.C. man survives several days in wilderness by slurping water from ponds

VICTORIA — Williams Lake RCMP say 39-year-old Andrew Barber was “slurping pond water” and “munched on whatever he could find” to stay alive for several days after his truck had broken down in a remote part of the Cariboo.

Staff Sgt. Brad McKinnon says Barber was first reported missing on July 31, and found him on Aug. 8 on forest service past McLeese Lake after an RCMP helicopter had spotted him by his self-made shelter near a rock with the word ‘Help’ written on it.

McKinnon says police officers found Barber with an injured right leg and “severely dehydrated” before taking him by air to Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, from which he has since been released.

McKinnon says he has been told that Barber is “doing quite well” after his experience, but adds that the outcome “likely could have been very different” given Barber’s lack of clean drinking water.

McKinnon says the human body can “go a long time without food, but water is a different situation.”

McKinnon says it is not clear why Barber was in the area described as “boggy” and remote, but credits Barber’s “above average understanding of the wilderness” for his survival.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2025.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press