Crews find woman missing for days

BAT CAVE, N.C. (AP) — Rescue workers have found a hiker from South Carolina who had been missing for three days in the rugged North Carolina mountains. They say she is alive and well.

Buncombe County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Randy Sorrells says 29-year-old Kristy Thornbrew of Florence was found Thursday morning by a Highway Patrol helicopter. Crews have now reached her and are working to get her out of the area.

Sorrells says Thornbrew is in remarkable condition given how much time she spent in the mountainous area. Friends say Thornbrew left a small cabin on Monday in hopes of seeing sunrise from a mountaintop near Bat Cave and didn’t return.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.)