A college student who was stranded for five days near the Grand Canyon said she began making farewell videos for her family as she grew desperate for help.

Amber VanHecke, 24, said she was trying to find an Arizona hiking trail but was led astray by her maps app, and ended up in the middle of nowhere with an empty petrol tank. She said nobody reported her missing because of a miscommunication with her family.

For the next five days, VanHecke said she survived on nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
She said she cooked ramen noodles on her dashboard at the hottest part of the day for meals.

She made 10-foot-tall 'SOS' and 30-foot-tall 'HELP' signs on the ground out of rocks, and flashed her headlamp into the sky at night.

She then hiked for miles to a spot where she briefly found a mobile phone signal, and rescuers eventually found her abandoned car - and then her - using a search helicopter.

VanHecke was treated in hospital for exposure but is now back at her studies at the University of North Texas.

She left behind these notes for rescuers.