Trapped Woman Survived On Condensation

Elderly Woman Was Trapped In Car For Four Days

(CBS)  A trip to the grocery store turned into a disaster for an elderly woman in Washington when her car plunged into a ravine, leaving her trapped for days. But as Dan DeRoos of CBS affiliate KOIN-TV in Portland, Ore., reports, the woman found a way to stay alive.

It was supposed to be just another day on the route for Ferrellgas truck driver Andy Thompson, until he drove across a bridge and just happened to catch a glimpse of a maroon car in a ravine and thought he better check it out.

"I went ahead and I climb down and the windows were all fogged from the inside," Thompson says. "So I couldn't see inside very well, so I cupped my hands up against the glass and she was right there staring back at me."

Staring back at him was 88-year-old Mary Anderson, missing since Friday afternoon. Mary was on her way back from the grocery store when she missed her turn and plunged down an embankment, hidden by the brush.

She was had been trapped in her car for four and a half days.

"The expression on her face was just unbelievable, unbelievable. She had this expression like 'I can't believe somebody is here for me,' " says Thompson.

After a quick rescue, Mary was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center, suffering only from a little shock and dehydration.

"I was overjoyed and very relieved of course," says Mary's son, Jim Johnson, who says his mother is doing fine but not quite up for interviews.

Stuck in the car without food, water or a cell phone, Mary did what she could to survive. She tried to stay hydrated by licking the condensation off of the inside of the window.

The irony is that Mary, who was heading home from the supermarket, had a bag of groceries in the trunk of her car.