A sad story. Perhaps the thing that we should come away with to reinforce the maxim that you never, never go down any road unless you already know that you will be able to turn around or get through. Even a two-lane road may not allow for turning around. A single-lane road is definitely a red flag.
We routinely apply this caution before entering a shopping mall or fuel station, where a bad result is likely to be a temporary inconvenience. Let us not forget to apply it when a bad result is certainly going to be costly and could be lethal.