Is it possible that because they went off the road they were not getting reception on the cell phone? Of course, he’d called his wife earlier, but could reception have been spotty? Or did he lose the phone?If the car veered off the road and went down the embankment and got stuck in the mud surely after so long of trying to get it out you’d realise that there was no chance of dislodging it (the more times you tried the more the car would get stuck imo) - why not call for help at this stage? And just stay in the car and wait for help to arrive.