Woman impaled by 8-inch tree limb, survives‏

A scenic drive quickly turned into a nightmare for an Idaho woman when she was impaled through her neck by a large tree limb.Michelle Childers, 20, and her husband were driving along the Lochsa River in the Idaho wilderness earlier this month when the freak accident happened.Childers says they had driven down a dead-end road and were on their way back when a limb from a spruce tree came out of nowhere and crashed through the passenger window.She says all she remembers is feeling a pressure in her neck and asking husband where the limb was."He was freaking out and he goes, it's in your neck," she said.The branch was 8-inches long and rammed itself through to her shoulder.Childers says the couple said their goodbyes, just in case.After about an hour of driving, the couple reached a lodge near the Idaho/Montana border, where a nurse arranged for her to be flown to a hospital for treatment.The tree limb was removed during a 6-hour surgery.Childers is recovering at home.

Ferry survivor in Philippines rescued after 30 hours alone at sea

For 30 hours, Lita Casumlum bobbed in the churning seas. Buoyed by her life jacket, guzzling seawater, her face scorched by a relentless sun, she forced herself to concentrate on her husband and son as she prayed to be rescued.

Her pleas were answered Monday as a Philippines air force helicopter plucked the 39-year-old homemaker to safety -- a day after the Super Ferry 9 sank off the southern coast.

Military gunboats and aircraft swarmed the area along with cargo ships, rescuing all but a handful of the more than 1,000 passengers. Nine are confirmed dead; after Casumlum's rescue, just one is still missing.

"I just prayed and prayed hard that some ships or fishing boats or the navy would rescue me, but there was none," she said Tuesday from her hospital bed. "No ships until I saw the helicopter." Officials called it a miracle that they spotted her orange life vest bobbing in the water about 15 nautical miles from where the ferry sank.

"She was like a dot in the vast blue ocean," said air force Maj. Antonio Mandaue.

The ferry, built in Japan in 1986, left General Santos in the southern Philippines on Saturday, en route to Iloilo City in the central part of the archipelago. Pepito Casumlum, a 40-year-old carpenter, said he was riding below deck with his wife, 7-year-old son and a nephew when they heard a tremendous thud.

The order to abandon ship sent panicked passengers to the railings, where many jumped into the water. Parents lowered children into life rafts. In the madness, Lita Casumlum was separated from her family.

"The sea was so cold. Everything is cold at night and it was so hot during the day," she recalled. "I was hungry and drank seawater only."

Hundreds of survivors were rescued, including Pepito, his son and nephew. But it wasn't until about 1:15 p.m. Monday that a pilot spotted Casumlum.

"I thought she was dead -- she was badly burned by the sun, her face was swollen and she looked bad," Mandaue said. Then she moved.

Rescuers found two small crabs inside her pockets. The crabs had cut her legs, but Casumlum was too cold to feel the pain, officials said.