Dominican rescue team locates missing U.S. scientists

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Two American scientists lost in a mountainous park for a week were rescued by a Dominican search team and were recuperating Thursday from exhaustion, officials said.

Patrick Martin and Olivia Duren got lost on Feb. 21 in Armando Bermudez National Park.

They survived by rationing two days worth of food supplies and drinking spring water until a rescue team found them Wednesday afternoon.

Martin and his assistant Duren, both from Cornell University, were researching a rare pine tree, Pino occidentalis, which grows in parts of the Dominican Republic. Fog and fatigue made them lose their trail, said Radhames Lora Salcedo, director of the country's emergency agency.

When found, the scientists had not eaten for two days and were suffering from fatigue, diarrhea and minor scratches, Lora said.

The two were recovering at a scientific field office in Jarabacoa, 94 miles northwest of the capital, Santo Domingo. There is no phone at their quarters.

Martin, who has conducted his field work in Pico Duarte for the last three years and knows the area well, was equipped with camping gear and global positioning equipment.

"They fell into a natural trap, like a deep valley surrounded by mountains, and could not return to their path," said Lora.

Scientists from Cornell, in Ithaca, N.Y., have been researching the park since January and are expected to return in mid-March.

More than 60 people and a helicopter participated in the rescue efforts.