Shutterstock
A 41-year-old Indiana mother survived nearly a week trapped in her wrecked car after it crashed into a drainage ditch and disappeared from view of passing motorists. Brieonna Cassell, who has three children, was finally discovered Tuesday after being reported missing for six days.
Cassell had fallen asleep while driving near Wheatfield, Indiana, sending her vehicle off the road and into the deep ditch where she remained trapped with serious injuries.
“She would take her hoodie and toss it, like she’s fishing,” her father, Delmar Caldwell, told NBC Chicago. “And bring it back and suck on it to have water.”
The discovery came purely by chance when a tractor operator working for a local drainage company spotted the wreckage hidden from the road. The worker immediately called his supervisor, Jeremy Vanderwall — who also serves as assistant chief at a nearby volunteer fire department, according to the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.
She survived on nothing but rainwater for nearly a week.
When rescuers reached Cassell, she was remarkably alert despite her ordeal. “She was very conscious, very aware of how severe her injuries were,” Vanderwall told ABC News. “She said, ‘I didn’t think anybody was gonna find me. I thought I was gonna die in this ditch.’”
The conversation that followed revealed how completely Cassell had lost track of time during her ordeal. When Vanderwall asked how long she’d been trapped, she replied, “Since Wednesday.”
“I said, ‘ma’am, it’s Tuesday,’” Vanderwell recalled. “Tomorrow’s Wednesday.”
Cassell’s predicament was made worse by several factors that prevented earlier discovery. Her phone had fallen beneath the passenger seat and lost power, while her desperate shouts went unheard by passing motorists. The vehicle’s position in the ditch effectively concealed it from view — leaving her completely isolated for nearly a week.
Following her rescue, Cassell was airlifted to a Chicago hospital where she underwent surgery for multiple serious injuries to her legs and wrist. Despite the traumatic experience and extensive injuries, her father reports she’s in “good spirits” and “eating a lot.”
Vanderwall expressed admiration for Cassell’s remarkable survival instincts. “To have the wherewithal to use her shirt to get water, knowing that she had to have water to survive… just survival skills, man,” he said.
