Elderly Man Found Alive After Vanishing on Drive Home Dies Days After Miracle Rescue

An 85-year-old man who mysteriously vanished while driving home from dinner was miraculously found alive inside his crashed car two days later — only to die in the hospital just days after his rescue.

Jacobus “John” Bakkum disappeared on Sunday, Aug. 23, after leaving the Harrietville Hotel Motel in Victoria, Australia, following dinner with his wife, Mary.

The couple lived only a short distance away. Mary decided to walk home, while Bakkum told her he would drive.

But he never made it back.

His sudden disappearance sparked a frantic search as police and loved ones desperately tried to figure out where he had gone.

Then, nearly two days later, came the breakthrough no one expected.

A passerby spotted Bakkum’s vehicle down an embankment off the Omeo Highway in Mitta Mitta, roughly 52 miles from his home, shortly after 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

According to Bakkum’s nephew, Trevor Castricum, the discovery happened almost entirely by chance.

The driver reportedly turned to look at his dog and noticed something unusual near the side of the road.

“He saw something and he decided to go and look over the edge,” Castricum told The Border Mail.

“It was only because the dog was on the right side that he was found, but I’m going to try and contact him because without him we could have still been looking.”

Bakkum had survived inside the wrecked vehicle for roughly two days.

Family members rushed to the crash scene after learning he had been found alive.

“He recognized us and said ‘hello’, but he had been sedated by the time we got to him,” Castricum said.

Bakkum was rushed to a hospital with injuries authorities initially described as “non-life-threatening.”

Relatives reportedly said he appeared “chipper” after his rescue, giving the family reason to believe the nightmare might finally be over.

But his condition later took a devastating turn.

Victoria Police announced that Bakkum died at a Melbourne hospital on Thursday, Aug. 27 — just two days after he was rescued.

Authorities have not publicly detailed what caused his health to deteriorate following the crash.

Police said their investigation into the wreck will continue.

Bakkum’s death has hit Harrietville particularly hard, where he had been a familiar face for more than five decades.

Born in the Netherlands, Bakkum moved to Australia with his family as a child and eventually settled in Melbourne.

After marrying Mary, he moved to Harrietville in 1971 and became deeply involved in the small community.

Castricum said his uncle served as the town’s postmaster, operated the local general store and started a building company.

“He’s always been an active member, [or] the president, secretary of everything from the school committee, hall committee, historical committee,” his nephew told ABC Australia.

Bakkum’s family also praised police, emergency crews and community members who helped search for him.

“The local police were fantastic on the night he went missing,” Castricum said.

“He had not been gone long, and I thought they would wait until morning, but they went out there that night and that was really good.”

What began as a desperate missing-person search briefly turned into an extraordinary survival story when Bakkum was found alive.

Just two days later, his family was mourning his death.