Search Continues for James Kim

Dec. 5, 2006 — -- After being stranded in the wilderness for more than a week, three members of an California family are doing remarkably well.

Kati Kim, her 4-year-old daughter, Penelope, and her 7-month-old daughter, Sabine, should soon be released from Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass, Ore.

But their ordeal isn't over. A search continues for Kati's husband, James Kim, who left his family two days ago to look for help.

On Monday afternoon, rescuers found three members of the Kim family on a rugged, snow-filled road where their Saab station wagon had been stuck for more than a week.

On "Good Morning America," Sandy Fleming, Kati's mother, said she had spoken to her daughter after her rescue.

"She was just so happy the girls were OK and that they had been found," Fleming said.

To help the family cope, James made the ordeal seem like a camping trip.

"James set up camp for them, just like it was a camping trip for them, to help them get through it. They had the store of things that they would normally have for the girls. … Bottled water, blankets," Fleming said.

On Monday, a helicopter search crew hired by the Kims' friends and family spotted Kati outside her car frantically waving an umbrella with SOS written on it to get its attention.

"They had minor provisions in the car. They ran out of gas. They were running the car during the day and at night to keep warm," said Brian Anderson of the Josephine County Sheriff's Department.

When the gas ran out, the family began burning the car's tires to keep warm. They survived on baby food and berries. Kati breast-fed both children to keep them alive.

The family's Thanksgiving road trip turned into a fight for survival when a wrong turn sent them down a rural mountain road.

There was no cell phone service, but the family's phone sent out a pair of "pings," or brief signals, to a nearby cell tower, transmitting enough information to narrow the search to a remote part of southern Oregon.