By Kenesha Fraser
Fifteen-year-old Ruel Fredericks survived five days alone in a densely forested area with nothing to eat, only muddy swamp water to drink, sheltering under trees during pelting rain and sleeping on the ground.
Fredericks, who was released yesterday from the Suddie Public Hospital where he had been admitted for observation, went missing on May 16 and walked out of the jungle on Wednesday last.
Recounting his experience, Fredericks of Siriki, Upper Pomeroon River told Stabroek News that he is thankful to be alive. The student of Charity Secondary School recalled that he was with his father at their farm on May 16. At around 3 pm, they decided to head home. He said his father told him that he was going to take a short cut, while he headed off to collect the bicycle.
“Before I leave, my father throw a cutlass in front of me and I start feeling different. I start to walk to go for the bicycle and when I reach a lil way I see three roads in front of me,” Fredericks said. He became confused and “… I run back to see if I could ketch up my father but I didn’t see he.”
More confused, he kept walking but the trail he followed only led deeper into the densely forested area. Night fell and he lay down on the ground and slept.
“…The next morning I wake up and then I start walking again, trying to look for a way to get home.” Fredericks said he was in a swampy area and he drank the muddy water from the swamp. “I didn’t had anything else to eat just water I deh drinking,” he explained.
Fredericks said he kept a mental note of the days that went by. Though he used the cutlass his father had tossed him to clear away razor grass and other vegetation,
