Lost Motorcyclist Cheats Death! Survives 5 Days on Creek Water After Idaho Crash!
A missing motorcyclist in Idaho survived on creek water for five days before being found by a family friend after a crash. 🌐 #News #WallaceID #Idaho #Rescue
WALLACE, ID – Just a day after authorities in Idaho said they were winding down a days-long search for a missing motorcyclist, the injured man was found by a family friend.
Zachary Demoss, 24, from Montana, was riding his black 2000 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle in Idaho with a couple of friends when he was last seen on the afternoon of Aug. 11, according to the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office.
Two of his companions riding another motorcycle passed his bike, which was parked alongside Highway 12 at around 4:30 p.m. The pair parked, and when Demoss did not catch up, they turned back to find him, but he was gone.
Demoss’ family, volunteers, and multiple agencies launched a search, including with drones and divers, due to a river being nearby, but found no sign of Demoss and no debris from a possible crash.
The sheriff’s office announced on Aug. 15 that the search would be “winding down” over the coming days with no success, and Demoss still missing.
But on the afternoon of Aug. 16, authorities received an SOS call from a Garmin inReach device.
“The missing biker had been found alive but was in bad shape,” the sheriff’s office said. Demoss had been found by family friend Greg Common.
Demoss “was tough enough to hold out for five days on that mountain while he’d seen people walking by, trying to holler at them,” Common told KTVB. Demoss had been shouting for help for days while surviving on creek water, and no one heard him until common found him.
“It was surreal that we found him,” Common said. “Something just willed me to look right and there he was, laying right there by the river.”
First responders arrived at the scene near the Lost Creek Campground and found Demoss “alert and conscious.” He was transported by Life Flight to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont., where he is expected to recover.
Written by TMX staff, with additional reporting by Jack and Kitty Norton.
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