FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — On Tuesday, Shughla Mashwani showed every sign of being a typical happy 10-year-old; you wouldn’t expect that two days ago she had spent the night alone, lost in the wilderness north of Cle Elum.
I was thinking, I will find my dad and keep walking in the forest to find my dad,” Shughla said.
The Mashwani family came to the U.S. from Afghanistan two years ago. The family spent Sunday outdoors, telling the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office they wanted to spend the day in a place that reminded them of their home country.
When the family crossed a footbridge across the Cle Elum River near Cathedral Rock trailhead, they noticed Shughla wasn’t there.
“It happened in ten minutes and then she was gone,” said Shir Mohammed Mashwani, Shughla’s father. “We didn’t think she would be alive in 24 hours.”
Shir and the rest of Shughla’s family spent hours searching for her, with no cellphone service to call for help. A passerby on a UTV came across the family and called for help on a satellite phone.
The Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office and half a dozen search and rescue teams from across western Washington began an extensive search.
“Within very short order, we had ground searchers, drones, canines, communications people and logistics people and swiftwater rescue people here,” said Chris Whitsett, the Kittitas County inspector. “Our first terrible instinct was, ‘Oh no, this little girl’s gonna be found in that river.”
As search and rescue teams searched around the clock, Shughla hiked downstream and slept the cold night between two trees.
“I was thinking I would go to sleep and wake up and find my mom and dad in the forest,” she said.
Monday morning the search continued. The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office said her father recorded a message that was broadcasted by the helicopter so she would know the rescue team was there to help her.
After more than 24 hours she was found with only a few scrapes and reunited with her father.
“I was happy when I saw them,” Shughla said.
Her family is grateful to the search and rescue teams and everyone who helped find their little girl.
“Everyone is proud of her that she is brave and takes care of herself on the mountain,” said Shir Mashwani.
Shughla said she wasn’t scared and when asked what made her brave, she said Allah.
“The prospect of a little girl being out there alone in the woods is terrifying," Whitsett said. "She was a remarkably composed and resilient little girl. We're ecstatic that we were able to find the result that we did instead of the result that we feared."