Thomas Northcut/iStock/Thinkstock(MATLOCK, Wash.) — A Washington state couple and their two children have been found alive after they went missing in a rural area Tuesday, authorities said.
Jason and Melissa McAlister was found in “good health” and told police they had planned to drive up to Mason County to go sightseeing with their two young children, according to the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office.
The McAlister family’s car became stuck after they came across a dead tree on a logging road and tried to drive around it, police said. They had “plenty” of fuel, as well as clothes and water and remained in the car Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the family attempted to walk out of the area but lost their way, so they decided to walk back to the car and stay another night.
A hunter spotted the family this morning and drove them to a general store nearby, where they were met by aid workers and authorities, police said.
Jason McAlister told police that the family’s spirits were high because they had been listening to the radio and knew that search efforts for they were underway.
“There was definitely considerable worry on our part, being that yesterday was an ideal day for them to walk out, you would think, and that didn’t happen,” Steve Shumate, chief criminal deputy with the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC’s Seattle affiliate KOMO. “I’m just so thankful that they were located today alive.”
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