A 27-year-old man was trapped in his truck for nearly a week underneath an Indiana highway, and the firefighters who helped free him from the vehicle are sharing their stories.
Matt Reum is hospitalized in Indiana after suffering severe injuries, but he still considers himself lucky after two Good Samaritans found him days after he had crashed, calling firefighters to the scene to help save him.
Several members of the Portage Fire Department were among the first rescue workers on the scene. They were immediately confronted with a rocky slope and rushing waters in their efforts to save Reum, who was pinned from the legs down in the truck.
“As we started essentially prying some pieces away, the patient would start saying ‘ohhh, I can feel that,’ or ‘it’s starting to pinch on me,” Jordan Bucy said. “Obviously, it’s like ‘okay now, we’ve got to reset and rethink what we’re doing.’”
Bucy said it took an hour to extricate Reum from the truck, but firefighters were able to do so successfully, allowing him to be airlifted to a South Bend hospital.
The firefighters said that it was a miracle that someone spotted the truck when they did, as two men who were planning to fish in the nearby creek saw a glint of sunlight shine off the body of the truck.
Police said that no one would have been able to see the truck from atop the bridge as it carried Interstate 94 over the creek, but the vehicle’s location did have one advantage. According to firefighters, Reum was able to collect rainwater despite being trapped, and he used that to help hydrate himself enough to survive.
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“When he landed, he landed right underneath basically a gutter for the highway bridge,” Bucy said. “So he was able to collect that runoff. It would hit his truck and he’d catch it with his shirt and filter it through that.”
The warm temperatures, and Reum’s determination, paid the ultimate dividends, according to Battalion Chief Chris Crail.
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“This guy’s will to survive after six days is nothing short of miraculous,” he said.
Needless to say though, going six days without any food certainly had an effect, as firefighter Zachary Swets said that his patient asked for one thing immediately after being rescued.
“That’s all he asked me for in the car. I said ‘a Big Mac?’ He’s like ‘I want a Big Mac!,’” he recalled.
Reum remains hospitalized in critical condition at an area hospital, but there is optimism that he will recover after his harrowing ordeal.
