Rescuers work to rescue a man who was trapped in a wrecked truck for six days under the bridge over Salt Creek on I-94 near Portage.
Photos provided by Indiana State Police
UPDATE 2:24 P.M.
PORTAGE, Ind. (AP) — A 27-year-old man survived for six days on only rainwater while pinned tightly inside his crashed pickup truck beneath a highway bridge in northwest Indiana, police said.
His ordeal ended when two men scouting for fishing spots on Tuesday afternoon noticed the badly damaged vehicle, 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 news outlets.
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 creek, hidden out of sight from the road above, Fifield said at a news conference.
Matthew R. Reum of Mishawaka, Indiana, was freed from the wreckage Tuesday evening by first responders working under bright floodlights, then airlifted to a hospital in South Bend with life-threatening injuries, Fifield said.
“He made it through the night. He is alive,” Fifield told The Associated Press, but said Reum remained in critical condition Wednesday morning.
Mario Garcia, one of the fishermen who found the wreck, said Reum was awake and “very happy to see us,” after being exposed to the elements since Dec. 20.
“It almost killed me there, because it was so shocking” to find him alive, Garcia said during a Tuesday news conference in the nearby city of Portage, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.
Garcia, of Hobart, said Reum told them he had screamed and yelled for help, but only heard the “quiet sound of water.”
Reum told them his cell phone had fallen out of reach and his body was trapped, preventing him from calling for aid.
Fifield said Reum hadn’t 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,” Fifield said in a news release. Reum’s “will to survive this crash was nothing short of extraordinary.”
ORIGINAL STORY
A Mishawaka man was rescued Tuesday after being trapped in a wrecked pickup truck, Indiana State Police said.
Two men were scouting fishing locations when they found the man in his badly damaged vehicle, Sgt. Glen Fifield told local news outlets. The fishermen spotted the wrecked truck along Interstate 94 near Portage below an underpass where it could not be seen from the highway above.
The fishermen initially thought the man might be dead, but “They touched the body, and the person turned their head and started talking to them. So, that got a little rise out of them,” Fifield said.
They called 911 and nearby fire departments from Portage and Burns Harbor came to the scene to extricate the driver, identified as Matthew R. Reum, 27.
The driver told the men he had been trapped since Dec. 20. The man was airlifted to a hospital in South Bend for treatment of life-threatening injuries, police say.
Preliminary investigation shows the driver had been traveling westbound on I-94 when it left the roadway for unknown reasons. The vehicle drove into the north ditch, missing a protective guardrail. The truck then overturned into the creek and came to a rest under the I-94 bridge over Salt Creek. The driver had been pinned inside the vehicle and unable to call for help, Indiana State Police said in press release.
The man had not been reported missing and there had not been any prior reports of a crash in this area before the fishermen found the vehicle, police say.
Police say Reum showed determination to survive while trapped in the vehicle for so long.
“The will to survive this crash was nothing short of extraordinary,” they said in the release.
It was also determined that Reum was able to drink rainwater for hydration, police say.
ISP reminds the public of the “importance of always letting someone know if you are traveling, the route you are taking, and the need to always have emergency items in your vehicle.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
