Indiana woman survives 6 days in crashed car by drinking creek water

While operating drainage equipment on Tuesday near Brook, a worker spotted Brieonna Cassell’s car off the road and informed his supervisor that she was inside.

An Indiana woman who was trapped in her car with severe leg injuries survived for nearly a week by sucking water from a sweatshirt that she dipped into a small creek, authorities said.

Brieonna Cassell was reported missing by her family days before she was discovered, the sheriff said. According to her father, Delmar Caldwell, she had been trapped since Thursday night after falling asleep at the wheel and veering off the road into a ditch. (Pic used for representation) (File) (AFP)

A man operating drainage equipment saw Brieonna Cassell’s car off a road Tuesday near the town of Brook, Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a post on social media.

The man 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 Wheatfield woman 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.

“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, the sheriff, that he could share her status on social media.

Both of her legs are broken and so is her wrist, according to a post on a GoFundMe fundraising site set up to help pay her medical bills. Family members spent the days in which she was missing searching for her, walking for miles along roads and ditches, the post said.

“Her outlook for recovery is good but it will be a long road to recovery,” the sheriff said.