Indiana Man Rescued After Nearly A Week Trapped Under An Overpass

An Indiana man was lucky to be rescued by two Good Samaritans who happened to see his wrecked vehicle on Tuesday after he had been trapped inside for nearly a week.

Nivardo Delatorre and his father-in-law Mario Garcia happened to be in the right place at the right time. They were fishing along Salt Creek in Portage, Indiana when they noticed a wrecked truck underneath an Interstate 94 overpass. They went to take a closer look and initially thought they came upon a dead body.  Garcia reached out to touch the guy and he turned around! “It almost killed me there because it was kind of shocking.” The driver was 27-year-old Matthew Reum, who told them that he had been paralyzed after his truck slid off the highway. At that point he had been stuck for nearly a week. 

“He was alive, and he was very happy to see us — I’ve never seen a relief like that,” Garcia continued. “He says that he tried yelling and screaming, but nobody would hear him. It just was quiet, just the sound of the water.” They called 911 and it took a lot of effort from two fire departments to get him out.  He was flown to Memorial Hospital in South Bend with severe, life-threatening injuries. He had to have part of his leg amputated and is still in the ICU. 

Police stated that the “will to survive” was “nothing short of extraordinary.”  Reum survived by only drinking rainwater and fortunately the weather had been warmer than normal. Even more amazing, there was no reports of the crash and no one had reported Reum missing. So it truly was a miracle he was found by chance!