Soccer saved me says trapped pensioner
An 85-year-old Swede said he survived four days without food and water inside his broken down car thanks to Sweden’s 5-0 victory over Bulgaria in Euro 2004.
Soeren Gellerstedt said news of the win was all he needed to cling on to life until rescuers found him in a desolate area in northern Sweden.
“The victory kept me alive,” said the retired farmer today. ”The Swedish side gave me the best energy I could have.”
Gellerstedt’s car stalled on Friday after it struck a rock in a rural area near his home in Jokkmokk, 560 miles north of Stockholm. He decided to stay in his car and hope for someone to find him.
Worried relatives called police, but a search with dogs and helicopters was called off on Monday – as Sweden kicked off against Bulgaria in Portugal – and Gellerstedt was feared dead.
Exhausted and weak from four days without food or fluids, he said, it was the excitement from the game broadcast on his car radio that saved him.
Relatives, who had continued the search, found him on Tuesday morning, suffering from dehydration and hunger.
“But now it is over,” Gellerstedt said.
