BROOK, Indiana: An Indiana woman who was trapped in her car after a crash survived for nearly a week on water from a small creek before she was discovered and rescued, authorities said.
A man operating drainage equipment saw Brieonna Cassell’s car off a roadway Tuesday near the town of Brook, Indiana, Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a post on social media.
The man who spotted her car told his supervisor, who is also a fire chief, and they found Cassell inside the car, conscious and able to speak, according to the sheriff. Multiple agencies responded and the 41-year-old woman, of Wheatfield, Indiana, was extricated and flown to a Chicago hospital, he said.
Cassell had been reported missing by family members days before she was found, the sheriff said. She had been trapped since Thursday night when she fell asleep at the wheel and veered off the road into a ditch, her father, Delmar Caldwell, told ABC News. Her vehicle wasn’t visible from the road.
Caldwell told the news outlet that Cassell had injuries to her legs and wrist and that her phone was found under the passenger seat.
“She was stuck in the car and could not get out, Caldwell said. “But she was able to reach the water from the car,” Caldwell said.
She was able to dip her hooded sweatshirt into the water and get it to her mouth that way, he said.
On Wednesday, Cassell was in stable condition at the hospital and was scheduled to have surgery “as there is some concern with the healing of her legs,” according to Cassell’s mother, who told Cothran he could share her status in a social media post.
“Her outlook for recovery is good but it will be a long road to recovery,” the post said.