Two young sisters who went missing from their Californian home on Friday afternoon have been found “safe and sound” after surviving two nights in the forest.
Carolina Carrico, five, and eight-year-old Leia Carrico were discovered uninjured roughly 1.4 miles from their home in Benbow, located about 70 miles south of Eureka around 10:30am on Sunday by two firefighters.
Their disappearance had prompted an extensive multi-agency search which included the U.S. Coast Guard.
Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said: "This is an absolute miracle. This is rugged territory, this is an extreme environment. How they were out there for 44 hours is pretty amazing.
"To have a positive outcome like this is just absolutely amazing... These girls definitely have a survival story to tell."
Mike Fridley of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office said they were able to locate the siblings after following a trail of granola bar wrappers.
“We found some clues during the day that made us change our direction,” he told reporters at a press conference. “We found granola bar wrappers and were able to confirm with the mom that yes those were granola bars that were bought in the last few days. The wrappers showed what direction they went in.”
In addition to the wrappers, the rescue team found boot marks that matched the pink boots and purple rain boots the girls were last seen wearing.
The sibling’s mother had told authorities that her children had disappeared around 3pm on Friday after they asked to go on a walk and were told no.
The pair are believed to have started walking along a deer trail before getting lost. They decided to stay in one place and drank water from leaves.
