A woman rescued from a storm drain in Florida says she was lost for three weeks in tunnels and survived on a can of ginger ale. She was discovered by a woman who heard her screams while driving by the drain.
The 43-year-old woman who was rescued is not officially being named because of concerns for her safety and mental health. The incident occurred in Delray Beach, southern Florida, on Tuesday.
The driver who had her window down and heard screams, called the authorities to report the emergency after pulling over and seeing the women, naked, 8ft down at the bottom of the drain. Dispatchers on the other end of the call sounded incredulous that someone was stuck in the sewer, according to the Washington Post.
The stricken person was rescued by an emergency crew using a ladder and a harness, with onlookers who had gathered cheering as she saved, as rescuers held sheets up around the entrance to the drain to respect the woman’s privacy.
A spokesperson for Delray Beach fire rescue said that the woman sustained superficial injuries and she had been reported missing three weeks earlier by her boyfriend in Palm Beach county.
The woman later told officials she was swimming in a canal when she noticed a door and entered it. She said she eventually became lost and ended up three miles away from where she first began, surviving on a can of ginger ale she discovered unopened along the way.
Police are trying to determine if the woman was actually underground for three weeks. They say the health officials they have consulted believe it is more likely the woman was only in the sewer for two or three days.
“We don’t feel that there was any crime committed,” Ted White, a police spokesperson, said.
“But the biggest question is, is her story credible? Was she actually down there the whole time?”