A fisherman was out on Lake O’ the Pines in Marion County, Texas, when he saw what looked to be a black jeep almost fully submerged.
About 18 minutes later, police arrived on the scene and realized they would have to wait for the tow service to come. It wasn’t until the tow truck arrived minutes later that they learned what they were dealing with.
The car was about 40 feet out from the nearest boat ramp. The fisherman who called authorities offered to use his boat to help police get a closer view of the wreckage.
“It was at that time they saw the woman,” Capt. Chuck Rogers, an investigator at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, told NPR. Rogers added that they did not have details on how long the Jeep was actually in the water, but that the woman said it had been a few hours.
The wreckage job had now turned into a rescue job.
According to Fox News, “The wrecker service, fisherman and deputies worked together to free the woman from the Jeep, and EMS treated her while they rushed her to a hospital.”
After the rescue, police soon realized that the unidentified woman had been reported missing 30 miles south of the lake by the Longview Police Department.
“There was nothing uncovered during the investigation to suggest this case was anything more than an accident,” Rogers said.
Cat Bigney, a survival expert who teaches at Boulder Outdoor Survival School, told Insider that a person in this situation rarely survives. She said, “A vehicle submerged in water is ‘an urgent survival situation’ because brain death typically begins within four minutes of oxygen deprivation.”
She added, “This is a physiological uncommon situation that is still being studied,” and that the best thing one can do is remain calm.