A man was trapped inside his crashed pickup truck for six days, drinking rainwater to survive, before fisherman finally spotted and rescued him, Indiana police have said.
The 27-year-old man had been pinned tightly inside his car beneath a highway bridge in northwest Indiana, and could not reach his phone.
Two men scouting for fishing spots on Tuesday afternoon noticed the smashed up vehicle with its opened white airbag, and decided to investigate inside, police told reporters.
“They touched the body, and the person turned their head and started talking to them. So, that got a little rise out of them,” Sergeant Glen Fifield of the Indiana State Police said during a news conference.
The driver had been travelling on Interstate 94 ahead of a bridge over Salt Creek.
Police believe he missed the guardrail and rolled several times before landing on the other side of the creek, hidden out of sight from the road above.
Police believe the vehicle rolled several times over to the other side of the creek. Pic: AP
Matthew Reum, of Mishawaka, Indiana, was freed from the wreckage on Tuesday evening by first responders working under bright floodlights, then airlifted to a hospital in South Bend with life-threatening injuries, Mr Fifield said.
“He made it through the night. He is alive,” he told The Associated Press. He said Mr Reum remained in critical condition on Wednesday morning.
South Bend Memorial Hospital released a statement on Mr Reum’s behalf thanking people for their support and well wishes, “including the Good Samaritans who found him, the first responders and his caregivers”.
“No matter how tough things get, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes in the least expected way,” Mr Reum said in the statement.
Police helped rescue the man after he had been spotted by passers by. Pic: AP