Aleksandr Zverev sheltered for three weeks in caves after being flung from his raft in the Chinese wilderness.

By night he covered himself with leaves and branches to ward off frostbite. By day he drank river water and hoped for a miracle. He went without food for 25 days.

What started as the adventure holiday of a lifetime, shooting the rapids of one of the fastest-flowing and most dangerous rivers in western China, was ending in tragedy.

Mr Zverev believed that the river, which swells for only two months a year, had claimed the lives of his five companions. The remote Taklamakan Desert — its name means “you go in but you don’t come out” — was threatening to do the same to him.

The 35-year-old Russian had no supplies. Eleven days ago a rescue helicopter passed overhead without noticing him. Rescuers had already found the bodies of three of the group.

Yesterday, his hair ragged and beard matted with dust and sand, Mr Zverev looked dazed as a team of Chinese and Russian rescuers swept down from the sky, surrounded him and held a bottle of water to his chapped lips.

About ten hours later, search teams rescued a second missing Russian, Andrei Pautov, 28.

Mr Zverev’s lonely ordeal on the banks of the Yurungkax River in Xinjiang region began on August 24. It was the fourth day of the group’s trip, and one of the rafts capsized.

Mr Zverev said that he could only watch as two of his friends fought and lost a battle to survive the foaming waters.

The remaining four collected the bodies, left them on the bank and continued their journey. Three days later, the turbulent water overturned the second raft.

“A man cannot fight that water for a long time,” Mr Zverev said. “He manages to fight for a few minutes and then his strength disappears. Then only a miracle can save him.”

He added: “As I sat on the bank I tried to tell them what they had to do but none of them were able to.”

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