I woke up naked in a desert grave and survived 71 days by eating leeches
Ricky Megi was driving through the Australian outback toward a new job when he picked up a hitchhiker on the roadside. His act of kindness turned into a nightmare: the man was dosed with drugs and left to die in one of the world's most unforgiving corners. This mysterious story continues to raise questions. Source: irishmirror.ie
In This Article:
Found emaciated by farmers ten weeks after vanishing during a Brisbane to Port Hedland trip
In 2006, farmers stumbled upon a gaunt man wandering the desert. Mark Clifford described him as 'a walking skeleton.' It turned out to be Ricky Megi, who had disappeared ten weeks earlier during a trip from Brisbane to Port Hedland. Ricky Megi's past had been troubled: his father killed himself when he was a child. He was jailed several times for street fights and drugs. He hoped Port Hedland would be his chance at a new life. But the journey across 3,000 kilometres of dangerous terrain — including the Tanami Desert — would test him. He set off in a 2001 Mitsubishi Challenger. The trip was supposed to take two to three days. Along the way, something went wrong. He first claimed his car had broken down. Later he told journalists that he picked up an Aboriginal hitchhiker who drugged him and left him disoriented in the desert. Source: mirror.co.uk
71 days in the desert: thirst, dew, raw meat and improvised shelters
Whether the exact sequence is true or not, the end result remained the same: Megi wandered the desert for 71 days. Ten days he walked under the scorching sun, and several times he lost consciousness from the heat. When water ran out, he drank his own urine or collected morning dew. He hunted small animals and ate them raw, and sometimes fried frogs by stringing them on wire and leaving them to dry in the sun. He said they became 'a little crispy'. He built temporary shelters to protect himself from the daytime heat and the nighttime cold. He started with branches and eventually fashioned a shelter from an old cattle feeder. At some point Megi developed a dental abscess that could quickly prove fatal. But, unwilling to die, he pulled the infected tooth with his car keys. When he was finally found, he stood 188 cm tall and weighed just 45 kg, down from 104 kg. He was taken to hospital and discharged six days later. Doctors noted that he was exhausted but not dehydrated. The treating physician said Megi's story was hard to confirm or deny because of his rapid recovery. Neither Megi's car nor his abductors were ever found.
Skepticism, offers, and a Dubai life
Yet questions linger. The Sydney Herald suggested that this could be a fabrication, reporting that Megi had tried to sell his story to a television channel. Later, radio ABC reported that he freely provided them his story. Before that, however, he asked for 22,000 Australian dollars (1.1 million rubles). It was said that such an amount was offered by ABC's competitors. Megi explained his miracle: \"People must understand what I went through. I feel sick when I hear that I invented everything. I used to be indifferent to life, but now I value every day.\" Now the man lives in Dubai and runs a construction crew. He dreams of helping Africa and is convinced that his rescue has a deeper meaning: \"I think I survived not in vain and can help other people.\"
