A CANADIAN WOMAN who was missing for seven weeks has been located by hunters in a remote area of the US state of Nevada.

Rita Chretien, 56, and her 59-year-0ld husband Albert went missing in March while travelling to Las Vegas on holiday.

A huge search involving police and planes when the couple failed to return home on 30 March. They had last been seen at a shop in eastern Oregon on 19 March, the same day they’d set out on their journey.

Yesterday, hunters came across their van, which had gotten stuck in mud, and found Rita. She said her husband set off on foot to find help a few days after they got stuck and she hadn’t seen him since.

Police had closed a special phone line to receive tips on the missing couple in late April, after a drop in incoming information about the pair.

Rita said she had survived for weeks by drinking small amounts of water and eating snow and trail mix.

Her son Raymond Chretien told the Orgonian newspaper that the family was stunned at news of her discovery. “We haven’t fully digested it. This is a miracle,” he said.

He said Rita wasn’t optimistic about her husband’s chances of survival because he didn’t have shelter. She apologised to her family for the pain their disappearance caused and said she had been keeping a journal for her friends and family in case she died before being found.

- Additional reporting by the AP