For his birthday, Mario had planned to visit his family with his 14-year-old dog Zoe, but things went horribly wrong when he took a wrong turn and became stuck on a rural road.
Can you picture being stranded in the middle of nowhere? It’s impossible, isn’t it? Nobody would want to be stuck somewhere they don’t know with little to no way to get aid.
Although, this is not far from reality. This can occur if we miss our exit or if our automobile breaks down on a remote route with few other vehicles. We could only pray that assistance would arrive as soon as possible.
It was Mario Castro’s birthday, and he had a simple plan on how to spend it. He planned to take his dog and go from Globe, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, to spend the day with his mother.
He barely had a few change of clothes in a suitcase, which he secured to his car. Zoe, his 14-year-old dog, was restrained in the passenger seat. In order to arrive in an hour and a half, he started the car and made a call to his mother. But what appeared to be a brief journey home turned out to be six painfully long days, which he never anticipated.
When Mario departed Las Cruces, he immediately missed his exit on the freeway. He picked the next one and tried to go back to where he had missed the exit, but he got into a worse situation.
They got stranded in the dirt path when his pickup hit a boulder. He was unable to drive away because it broke down. Even worse, he was in an isolated area where few people would often pass by.
Six days of existence
For Mario and Zoe, the days that followed were terrible. They made an effort to find a way out, but it appeared impossible. They only discovered a few watering holes that kept them alive for a few more days because they were severely parched.
“It was incredibly challenging. I was nearly going to die,” Mario told 12 News. “I thought this might be my last day. My dog had closed his eyes. It seemed to be her last day to me as well. We simply take cover under a tree.
On a Thursday, their sixth day in the desert, it was 100 degrees outside. Halfway through writing the letter S on his SOS sign, Mario noticed a white truck approaching from the distance.
Mario was struggling to keep up with Frank Martinez as he and his wife searched the region for a new trail.
Since that area was renowned for illegal activity, he was apprehensive to aid him, but his heart overcame him, and he volunteered to transport Mario and Zoe somewhere secure.
When Frank turned to look in his reflection, he became more confident that he made the proper decision. He observed Mario consuming food and beverages despite the fact that he hadn’t in days.
Mario claimed that if Frank and his wife hadn’t taken that route, he and Zoe would have perished there and handed all the credit to them. He prevented their deaths.
Frank did other things other just saving their lives, though. He was a mechanic, as it happened. He then offered to fix Mario’s truck and assisted in freeing it from its impasse.
Watch the video below to know more:
