May 25 (UPI) -- A Hawaii woman has been found alive after she got lost on a hike in Maui more than two weeks ago.
Amanda Eller, 35, a Maui resident, yoga instructor and physical therapist, was reported missing May 9 after she left to hike the Makwao Forest Reserve the day before and didn't return that night. Police found her vehicle in the parking lot with her wallet and phone inside.
Julia Eller, Amanda's mother, told Hawaii News Now on Friday that her daughter had been found alive.
"I was crying with tears of joy, I'm so incredibly thankful to have my girl home," she said. "I felt in my heart she was alive. I never gave up hope."
She was lost "between two waterfalls down a deep ravine in a creek bed," the Findamanda page on Facebook showed.
Rescuers spotted her by helicopters as she waved them down 3 miles south of Bamboo Forest and evacuated by air to a hospital.
"I think she took a good fall. They found her in a deep ravine, basically unable to get out," her father, John Eller, told Maui 24/7. "The rescuers had to be airlifted out as well, because it was so tumultuous."
She was found barefoot, and was eating plants to stay alive, rescuers said.
Though she had lost about 20 pounds, had some abrasions and severe sun exposure, considering what she's been through, she's in good shape, according to her doctors, her mother said.
