Brave 10-Year-Old Afghan Girl Survives Alone for 24 Hours in Washington Mountains

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Rescue teams in Washington state have praised the ability of a brave 10-year-old girl to survive alone for more than 24 hours in the rugged nature of the Cascade Mountains, after she lost her way while out on a picnic with her family.

Shengla Mishwani was with her extended family in the Klee Elum river valley on Sunday when she became separated from the group as they crossed a bridge over the river to have lunch, the Kititas County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Kittitas County is about 85 miles east of Seattle.

The little girl and her family arrived in the United States two years ago, from Afghanistan. They like to spend their time in high mountain areas that remind them of home, according to the sheriff’s office.

Shangla told her family and rescue teams that she “suddenly found herself separated and alone when the family was on their way back towards the nearby bridge and could not find the bridge on their own,” according to the sheriff’s office.

The publication reported that when the family noticed that Shangla had not crossed the bridge with them, about 20 people in the group returned and began searching for her.

Due to the poor transmission in the area, the family continued to search for Shangla for about two hours when someone offered to call the police from the satellite phone at their nearby hut around 2pm.

Police teams and volunteer ground search teams, as well as teams from nearby security units, have been sent to the area. Drones, helicopters and sniffer dogs have also been called in to help find the missing Shongla.

The sheriff’s office assigned the father of the missing child to record a reassuring message in his native language, which was broadcast in the search area, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told CNN.

The message to Shengla was telling her that there were people looking for her and trying to help her.

The sheriff’s office indicated that the search area was mountainous, rugged, and remote, with thick trees and vegetation through which the swift Cle Elum River crossed.

Shangla was found around 3 p.m. Monday by ground search volunteers, about a mile and a half south of the location where she was last seen, the sheriff’s office said, with some minor scratches.

“I was trying to sleep at night in order to wake up early in the morning, and then find my mother and father in the forest,” Shengla told CNN’s KING network, during her talk about her lonely night in the wilderness.

The sheriff’s office added, “She walked downstream through the dense forest and spent the cold night among some trees. She said she knew it was right to follow the river’s path. Shengla proved to have exceptional resource use and resilience for a 10-year-old “.

The rescue team put Shangla into an inflatable rescue boat and crossed the river to reunite her with her father.