Authorities Rescue Minnesota Man Trapped Under Tree for Four Days

A Minnesota man is on the road to recovery after surviving more than four days trapped under a tree. 

On Monday, the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office confirmed authorities had rescued 59-year-old Jonathan Ceplecha, who had been missing since Aug. 27. The sheriff’s office says the school teacher and Army veteran was cutting down trees on his property when one fell on him and pinned both of his legs. A GoFundMe page for Ceplecha states his legs were instantly broken, and his upper torso was “semi-twisted as he sat upright on the ground.” He also did not have a phone at the time of the accident, leaving him with no options to call for help.

According to the crowdfunding page, Ceplecha was able to survive on a diet of insects and plants as well as “sweat and rainwater that he collected in his clothes.” Ceplecha’s ex-wife found him on Monday, shortly after his employer notified the family he had missed the first day of school.

It took about two hours for the Redwood Falls Fire Department to get Ceplecha out from under the tree. He was then airlifted to a hospital and underwent multiple surgeries.

“I was with him Monday in the hospital and he was kind of getting how he was able to keep from panicking, which was by breaking up the days into hours and then breaking up the hours into five-minute segments so that he could have little victories throughout the day that would give him little pieces of hope,” Ceplecha’s son, Miles, told KARE11. “He just tried to keep his mind distracted, and he did this hour after hour for 100 hours.