A 3-year-old boy and his 1-year-old brother survived for several sweltering days in an Arkansas ravine after a car crash that killed their mother, the authorities said this week.

The children were found on Monday after the 3-year-old found the strength to climb out of the sunroof of the car, which was upside down and on its side, said Nathan Greeley, a detective with the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office. He said the authorities were not sure when the crash occurred but believed it may have been Friday.

The body of the mother lay a few feet away and the boy went over to try to wake her, his grandfather, James Holliman, told the local NBC affiliate, KARK. Hot, hungry, exhausted and scratched all over, the boy wandered onto Highway 24 near Camden, Ark., about 85 miles from Little Rock.

He was found by a driver around 7:30 a.m. on Monday and was quickly taken to the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office.