Originally Posted By: stevenpd

Yet, he built a crude shelter the first night and built a distress signal from available materials that eventually lead to their rescue.


I was also under the impression that it was the distress signal that caught the attention of rescuers. But apparently it was the father running around that got their attention.

Quote:

The father of the family, Frederick Dominguez, came running out of the culvert where they had sought shelter when family members heard the sound of the California Highway Patrol helicopter Wednesday afternoon.

"Had he not been moving, we would not have seen him, because the tree line was very dense and he came climbing out of the culvert," helicopter pilot Steve Ward told CNN on Thursday. "We were just very lucky."

Dominguez had arranged branches to spell the word "help" near the culvert, but rescuers didn't see that until they were turning the helicopter around after spotting Dominguez.


http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/20/family.found/index.html