Burlington Family Rescued After GPS Leads Minivan Down Snowmobile Path
BURLINGTON (CBS) - It was an early morning rescue by ATV Sunday in Jefferson, New Hampshire. A Burlington family was freed after being stuck in their minivan for nearly seven hours.
"We realized without any help we'll be stuck here for the whole night," said Dattu Prajapati.
The family was stranded on Jefferson Notch Road, which is restricted to snowmobiles only during the winter months. Prajapati said his GPS led him down that road. He tried to turn around, but the van got stuck in the snow. They were several miles from a main road running low on gas.
"I realize that we made a mistake, we tried to correct our mistake, but regarding the sign we didn't see anything that said snowmobile only," said Prajapati.
There was no cell phone service so the family instead turned to their cars roadside assistance system to help first responders figure out where they were.
"I was scared in the beginning the first hour," said seven-year-old Devin Prajapati.
The family was leaving Bretton Woods after a day of skiing and heading back to their hotel. A total of five kids and two adults were rescued by state and local first responders.
"Everyone was excellent they were very nice to help us out really well otherwise we would have been there all night, there was no way we could have walked out," said Prajapati.
Prajapati was cited for driving on a snowmobile path. He plans to file an appeal.
