Man Rescued After 6 Days Trapped Inside Car When Good Samaritans Spot Wreckage Under Overpass

An Indiana man got a belated Christmas present when he was rescued from his wrecked car after being stuck inside for six days.

Indiana State Police said at a news conference Tuesday that they responded to a report of a crash on Interstate 94 at the 29 mile marker.

“Two local fishermen were scouting Salt Creek for possible fishing holes when they saw a vehicle partially in the creek below the I-94 bridge that goes over Salt Creek,” said Sgt. Glenn Fifield said.

First responders rescue a man trapped in a crashed vehicle.

INDIANA STATE POLICE

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“Out of curiosity, they decided to look into the vehicle and saw that there was a male passenger in it. One of the good Samaritans touched the passenger, thinking that the person was deceased, but they were not,” he continued. “The tenant turned his head and started talking to our good Samaritan.”

According to Fifield, the rescued driver — identified by authorities as 27-year-old Matthew Reum of Mishawaka, Ind. — was involved in the crash and was unable to reach his cell phone to call for help.

Fifield said Reum has “some serious, potentially life-threatening injuries” and is currently receiving treatment after being extricated from his vehicle. He was then flown by Lutheran Air helicopter to Memorial Hospital in South Bend.

First responders rescue a man trapped in a crashed vehicle.

INDIANA STATE POLICE

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“Honestly, it’s a miracle he’s alive. With the weather like this, we’ve been lucky here this Christmas season that our temperatures have been, as you all know, above normal. So that worked in this person’s favor. I know we passed had freezing cold and that we could have had very different circumstances,” he added.

Reum managed to survive by drinking rainwater, Indiana State Police said in a statement.

During the press conference, Mario Garcia, one of the fishermen who found the man, said he “mentioned that he had been there since last Wednesday” and tried to “shout and scream, but nobody wanted to hear him”.

“It almost killed me there because it was so shocking. He was alive and very happy to see us,” Garcia added, noting that he “had a few scratches on him.”

Nivardo Delatorre, another fisherman, said he “cannot describe” the scene.

First responders rescue a man trapped in a crashed vehicle.

INDIANA STATE POLICE

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“I just followed Mario’s lead. He said, ‘Call the phone,’ and I saw the person inside, the resident, and my instinct was to call for help,” Delatorre said.

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