Dead friend kept crash survivor 'warm'

NEW BRIGHTON, Pa., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- An elderly Pennsylvania woman survived a car wreck in which she was pinned under the body of her dead companion for two nights, police said.

Helen McCoy, 86, and Robert Harris, 73, both of New Brighton, Pa., crashed sometime Monday night on a rural road near the town when Harris, the driver, lost control of his car, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday.

Relatives searched for them, but McCoy's daughter, Jane Eiler, and her daughter-in-law didn't find them until 11 a.m. Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

Harris, who often drove McCoy around town and for doctors' appointments, was found slumped over McCoy, the newspaper said.

"My dad kept her warm. She didn't know that he had passed away," said Harris's son, Russell, who added McCoy was an amputee who didn't have her heart medications for the two days. "The blessing is that she should be released from the hospital and should be OK."

McCoy was disoriented, dehydrated and hungry, but uninjured, said New Brighton Area Police Chief Charles Van Fossen.