Fishermen Rescue Driver Trapped in Wrecked Truck Just in Time

A pair of Indiana fishermen pulled off a post-Christmas “miracle” on Tuesday afternoon, rescuing a trapped driver who nearly froze to death inside his mangled truck beneath a bridge.

Authorities said Mario Garcia, 60, and his son-in-law Nivardo Delatorre, 31, made the discovery, drawn to the truck by sheer curiosity when they spotted “something shiny” in the distance as they wrapped up a day of fishing.

In a press conference Tuesday, the rescuers said they approached the truck and moved an airbag, discovering 27-year-old Matthew Reum lying inside. Garcia said he initially thought Reum was dead, but the stranded motorist’s eyes shot open when he touched him.

“The moment I touched the shoulder, he swung around—he woke up,” Garcia said, adding that he’d “never seen a relief like that.”

Garcia said Reum had no idea how long he had been trapped, but told them he couldn’t feel his arms and legs. He later said he’d crashed his truck nearly a week prior and was pinned inside.

Garcia said the driver didn’t think he’d ever be saved—having already screamed for help to no avail for days.

“He says he tried yelling and screaming, but nobody would hear him,” Garcia said. “It was just quiet—just the sound of the water.”

Reum suffered “some severe, potentially life-threatening injuries,” said Glen Fifield, a spokesperson for the Indiana State Police. The official said Reum was transported by helicopter more than 50 miles to South Bend for emergency treatment, but he didn’t specify his exact injuries or condition.

Garcia and Delatorre said it appeared that Reum had a broken hand and other injuries.

Fifield said Reum likely wouldn’t have survived another night stranded in the mangled truck, with temperatures around the northwest Indiana city of Portage—about 40 miles from Chicago, where Reum was found—dipping to as low as 29.

“Quite frankly, it’s a miracle he’s alive,” Fifield said. “It’s a miracle that he’s alive in this weather.”

Fifield said the crash occurred on Interstate 94, with Reum losing control of his 2016 Dodge Ram pickup truck for unknown reasons sometime on Dec. 20. The truck is believed to have gone “airborne” over a guardrail and flipped multiple times before it came to a rest under a bridge, next to the creek where Garcia and Delatorre were fishing.

A statement from police said Reum, unable to reach a cellphone, drank rain water to survive. The crash site was not visible from the interstate, and police had not received any reports of a crash or missing persons in the area, Fifield said.

“The will to survive this crash was nothing short of extraordinary,” police’s statement said, adding that Reum was “exposed to the elements.”

Garcia said he’s glad he took the impromptu fishing trip, which he said he went on only because his wife was working and his daughter was out of the house the day after Christmas.

He said he still recalls how overjoyed Reum was to see him.

“He was alive and he was very happy to see us,” Garcia said, noting that Reum repeatedly thanked them. “He said to me that he’s been there for a long time that he had almost lost all hope because nobody was there.”