A 10-year-old girl who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan just two years ago was rescued after surviving 24 hours alone in a “rugged and remote” mountain area in Washington state after she got lost during a family gathering, authorities said.
Shunghla Mashwani was reported missing in the Cle Elum River Valley, east of Seattle, shortly before 2 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET) on Sunday, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s office said in a news release days later.
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Her loved ones said her extended family had been gathering at the Cathedral Pass Trailhead on Fish Lake Road and playing in the woods near a footbridge over the Cle Elum River, the sheriff’s office said.
When the family walked back across the river to a parking area to eat lunch, they realized Shunghla was missing. Around 20 adults were with the group and they immediately went back and started searching for the 10-year-old, the sheriff’s office said.