Crash survivor rescued after surviving on rainwater for six days
‘They touched the body, and the person turned their head and started talking to them’
A MAN who survived on rainwater while trapped in his wrecked truck for six days over Christmas was rescued after being discovered by fishermen.
Matthew Reum, 27, had been tightly pinned inside his crashed vehicle beneath a highway bridge in northwest Indiana since Dec 20, police said.
His ordeal ended when two men scouting for fishing spots on Tuesday afternoon noticed the badly damaged pickup truck, which had its white airbag deployed, and reached inside.
“They touched the body, and the person turned their head and started talking to them. So, that got a little rise out of them,” Sgt Glen Fifield of the Indiana State Police told local media.
The truck went off Interstate 94 ahead of a bridge over Salt Creek, missing the guardrail and likely rolling several times before landing on the other side of the waterway, out of sight from the road above, Mr Fifield said.
Mr Reum, of Mishawaka, Indiana, was eventually 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, he added.
“He made it through the night. He is alive,” Mr Fifield told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “It’s a miracle that he’s alive in this weather.”
Temperatures in the area had plummeted to nearly -2C in recent days.
Mr Reum, a welder, had to have part of his leg amputated due to his injuries, and remains in an intensive care unit.
His friends are now raising money for his medical expenses and recovery.
South Bend Memorial Hospital released a statement on his 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.
Mario Garcia, one of the fishermen who found the wreck, said Mr Reum recounted having screamed and yelled for help but only heard the “quiet sound of water”. Mr Reum told them his mobile phone had fallen out of reach and his body was trapped. He drank rainwater to survive.
Mr Fifield said Mr Reum had not been reported missing.
“Had it not been for the two individuals that were walking the creek this afternoon, this incident more than likely would have had a different outcome,” Mr Fifield said.
Mr Reum’s “will to survive this crash was nothing short of extraordinary,” he added.