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A Florida woman reported missing weeks ago was found naked and trapped in an 8-foot storm drain – and it’s unclear how long she was stuck underground, police and fire officials said.
A Delray Beach Fire Rescue crew responded to the storm drain off a busy stretch of Atlantic Avenue early Tuesday after a passerby heard the woman yelling from several feet below the street, authorities said.
“Crews removed a grate to access the drain, which is about 8-feet deep, and used a ladder and a harness to raise the woman to ground level as a small crowd cheered,” fire officials said in a statement.
The woman, who was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital to be checked out, authorities said.
Police in Delray are now investigating how she got into the drain and how long she was there.
“She was lucky,” Delray Beach Fire Rescue spokeswoman Dani Moschella told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I don’t know how much longer she would have been OK down there. The idea that she was down there for any length of time is disturbing.”
Moschella said the woman – who appeared to be in her early 40s — likely had to deal with a cast of critters while inside the drain, including snakes and rats, as well as the “terrible” smell she had to endure.
Authorities did not identify her, but said she was reported missing to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office on March 3, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The woman was found naked while covered in dirt with a scrapped knee and leaves in her hair, Moschella said.
Delray Beach police, meanwhile, do not suspect foul play, the newspaper reported.
“From the police department standpoint, we don’t believe there was any type of crime committed,” police spokesman Ted White said. “It doesn’t feel like she was taken against her will. It appears this was done by her own free will.”
The woman said she had been in the drain for a “significant amount of time,” but it remains unclear exactly how long and why, White said, adding that she appeared to have gotten into the drain from another location.
The woman was in the drain for at least a couple of days and “perhaps weeks,” White told WPTV.
“This is one of the most bizarre situations our officers have ever experienced,” White told the Sun Sentinel.
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