in the sand and lighting a fire with any synthetic materials within his possession, such as his rucksack, to create a smoke signal. As the fire began to light up, another sandstorm struck, lasting twelve hours and leaving Prosperi stranded once again. Having failed to attract help, Prosperi wrote a farewell message to his family with a piece of charcoal. Using his pocket knife, he attempted to end his life by cutting his wrists. With the intention of exsanguination, he lay down in the shrine and awaited an overnight death. Prosperi recounted his motivations in an interview in 2014: "I was very depressed. I was convinced I was going to die and that it was going to be a long agonising death, so I wanted to accelerate it. I thought if I died out in the desert no-one would find me, and my wife wouldn't get the police pension—in Italy, if someone goes missing you have to wait 10 years before they can be declared dead. At least if I died in this Muslim shrine they would find my body, and my wife would have an income." By morning, Prosperi awoke to minimal bleeding upon his wrists. Due to the shallow depth of the incisions he cut and his high level of dehydration, the blood within his veins had clotted instead of freely flowing, ensuring his survival. Prosperi said that this experience aided him in regaining confidence and determination to continue. Departing from the Shrine, Prosperi continued walking for days, travelling only when temperatures were cool, early in the morning and later in the evening. He attempted to shield himself from the sun throughout the daytime by finding shade against cliffs, caves or beneath trees. In the evenings, he dug pits and submerged his body with sand to insulate himself. Continually moving towards the direction of mountains he noted in the distance, Prosperi maintained his survival by squeezing liquid from plant roots and hunting for beetles, snakes and lizards as food. By the eighth day of his disappearance, he came across an oasis containing a puddle of water. Due to severe levels of swelling within his throat and mouth caused by dehydration, Prosperi was unable to swallow water, vomiting his initial mouth-fulls. He lay alongside the puddle for hours, periodically sipping the water for the remainder of that day. By the following morning, Prosperi had filled his water container and