911 Calls Show Lost Utah Teenager's Fight for Survival
Brayden Neilson was lost for nearly 30 hours while on a hunting trip.
— -- As a Utah teenager recovers at home after spending 28 hours lost in the wilderness in single-digit temperatures, newly released 911 calls show his fight for survival.
Brayden Neilson, 14, and a friend went duck hunting in northwestern Utah when Neilson got lost last Saturday. Instead of heading to the car, he mistakenly walked deeper and deeper into the wilderness.
In one of the 911 calls, Neilson could be heard saying: “I don't feel good. I feel like I'm gonna pass out.”
In another 911 call, a dispatcher asked him if he was still by a barn.
“It's not a barn, it's hard to explain,” Neilson answered. “I see snow … branches … lights … cars.”
About 11 miles and nine hours after the first 911 call, the teen was found around 6 a.m. Sunday, almost 50 miles from home. He was found with signs of hypothermia and was possibly hallucinating from exhaustion.
"I really thought I should have been dead," Neilson later told ABC News. "I saw two pairs of headlights. I started walking to them. I think God led me that whole way through, all the way through there and I think he found me some help."
Neilson said the experience taught him the importance of carrying survival gear while going out.