77-year-old woman spends 5 days without food and water in forest

Relatives spent five days and four nights looking for 77-year-old Tatstsyana Ivanauna Dzyamko. The old woman has lived all her life in the village of Budki, Vileika District and knows the nearby forest like the back of her hand. However, the recent mushroom hunting was something that neither she nor her granddaughter Ala and her husband Yury expected to happen. Tatstsyana Dzyamko says how she managed to survive:

“I went to a swamp. And spent five days there. Oh, oh, oh. I lied in the swamp and everywhere. I tried lying down on a little hill but it was damp too. It was really hard to stand up afterwards. Everything was damp. I did not eat anything. Anything! And I did not drink any water. I only drank the black water and nothing else”.

ERB: “Did you find any berries?”

Tatstsyana Dzyamko: “I did not see any berries. I was feeling dizzy. I did not understand anything”.

Foresters and policemen found the old woman. Surprisingly, Tatstsyana Ivanauna’s pressure resembled that of a sportsman even after all the adventures, says her granddaughter Ala:

“We invited a doctor there. He took her blood pressure and said: “Her heart is like clock-work. The pressure is 120/70. What a granny!”

Ms. Dzyamko says she will never go to a forest again.

Tatstsyana Dzyamko: “No, I will never go to a forest again. I’m scared”.

Ala: “She is afraid to go to the forest. However, we decided to pick some berries yesterday and she said: “Take me with you. Let me sit on the luggage rack, I will ride”.

According to the deputy head of Vileika Department of the Interior Andrei Dudarchyk, Ms. Dzyamko had been lost in the forest a day before the incident took place but she had managed to find the way back home by the and of the day. Some lost mushroom hunters have to be searched with the help of helicopters.

Andrei Dudarchyk: “Another old woman was lost last year. Interestingly, her surname was Hrybok (“little mushroom”) and she was an inhabitant of the Hrybki village (“little mushrooms”). She went to hunt mushrooms in a forest. We used a helicopter to find her and jumped into the swamp from the helicopter”.

Mr. Dudarchyk also gave a few useful pieces of advice to ERB listeners. One of them was putting on bright clothes before entering a forest.

Andrei Dudarchyk: “You should always take a knife, matches or a lighter with you. And you should wear bright clothes even if it is really hot outside – bright red and bright orange”.

According to the head of Vileika District Education Department’s tourist club “Little Turtles” Mihail Petuh, the best way is to orient with the help of the Sun. Otherwise, you are likely to end up circling around the forest:

Mіhaіl Petuh: “The best way is looking at the Sun. If it was to the left when you entered the forest, it should be to the right when you are trying to return. If it is cloudy, you should take a compass with you. If a person is lost and it is raining, they should continue walking. They should walk no matter what is happening so that they would not freeze to death. They should choose guiding lines. When a person is walking forward, they often think they are really walking forward. But one of your legs makes wider steps in comparison with the other. So you may end up circling”.

However, if you understand that you are lost and will have to spend a night in the forest you should not panic. ERB wishes all its listeners a lot of mushrooms in forests. Do not get lost!