Amateur prospector John Waddell realizes he's lucky to be alive after surviving a two-day ordeal at the bottom of an old abandoned mine shaft in the Arizona desert.
The 60-year-old Waddell broke his left leg and ankle when he lost control of a rope he was using to lower himself into the 100-foot (30-meter) shaft about 90 miles (140 kilometers) northwest of Phoenix.
He had a cellphone but no service and went two days without food or water.
Waddell killed two rattlesnakes in the shaft with a stick before he was finally rescued Oct. 17 when a friend passed by the mine and heard his cries for help.
Waddell spoke to the media for the first time Sunday at a Phoenix hospital, where he's recovering from his injuries.
