Alps survivor plans to drive herself home

THE BRITISH woman who survived in an alpine crevasse for two days with her son after her husband was killed in a fall was yesterday planning to drive herself home after making arrangements for his body to be flown to England.

Pamela Caswell was with her father, Patrick Sabine, at Courmayeur, Italy, where Dr Stephen Caswell's body was taken on Tuesday by the Italian team who rescued them from Mont Blanc.

Mrs Caswell and Simon Painter, 16, her son from a previous marriage, discharged themselves from Chamonix hospital, France, on Wednesday night after being treated for shock and Simon for a knee injury. Simon flew back to Britain to stay with his father,

Lt-Cdr Christopher Painter, in Yeovil, Somerset.

Mrs Caswell, 40, plans to drive home to Plymouth, Devon, with her father over the next few days, her mother, Lorna Sabine, said.

'They will share the driving and take their time. Hopefully it will be therapeutic for her,' she said. 'We fear she will go to pieces when she gets home . . . she needs someone to lean on and she and my husband will help each other.'

The family were on a mountaineering trip on western Europe's highest peak on Sunday when they fell through an ice bridge into the crevasse. Dr Caswell died from his injuries, but Mrs Caswell and Simon survived on dried fruit and mouthfuls of snow.