Man cuts power poles in shocking rescue bid

WOLLASTON LAKE, SASKATCHEWAN - A man stranded in the Canadians wilds used an axe to cut down four power poles in Saskatchewan province hoping to draw attention to his plight, SaskPower told AFP.

The line was the only conduit providing electricity to 1,200 in the isolated community of Wollaston Lake, some 500 miles 800 kilometers north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Western Canada.

Within 24 hours, SaskPower sent a crew in a helicopter to survey the area. "They discovered four downed power poles and a man who was very happy to see us," SaskPower spokesman James Parker told AFP.

"He was desperate to be discovered," he said.

"He had been up at the lake for a number of days, and got stranded in rough weather." With no food, "he decided to chop down the four power poles to alert the community and SaskPower that he was up there."

"He understood that someone would try to determine the cause of the outage."

The SaskPower crew escorted him to safety, said Parker. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Christine Niemczyk said the man was "safe and back at home."

Power to the community has been restored, but the wooden poles will have to be replaced, said Parker.

"We do not encourage this sort of thing because you have live wires and someone can be electrocuted," he commented. "But we understand that in this situation this man was desperate and felt he had to do this to survive."