BAKER COUNTY, OR – A Washington man survived nearly three days in a crashed vehicle before being discovered Monday morning in eastern Oregon.

The Baker County Sheriff’s Office said dispatchers received a report of a motor vehicle crash at 9:38 a.m. on September 22 along Anthony Lakes Highway near Antelope Peak Road.

Responding law enforcement, fire, and medical personnel found a 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit down an embankment. The driver, identified as 75-year-old Paul Bartholomew Schwinberg of Richland, Washington, was still in the vehicle. Fire and medical personnel assisted him up the embankment to a waiting ambulance.

Investigators determined that Schwinberg had traveled to an appointment in Kennewick, Washington, on Friday, September 19, and was returning home to Richland. At some point, he took a wrong turn and became lost. Authorities said he failed to negotiate a curve on Anthony Lakes Highway, causing his vehicle to leave the roadway and come to rest in a creek bed.

Schwinberg was able to exit the vehicle but was unable to climb the steep embankment. He remained at the crash site throughout the weekend until a local rancher spotted him on Monday morning.

He was evaluated by Pioneer Ambulance medics and transported to St. Alphonsus Hospital.

The Baker County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the North Powder Rural Fire Protection District and Pioneer Ambulance.