Texas authorities made a startling discovery when attempting to pull a vehicle out of a lake, finding a woman inside, and alive.
On Friday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a fisherman at Lake o’ the Pines, less than 30 miles west of the Texas-Louisiana border, about a black Jeep vehicle that appeared to be submerged in the lake, authorities said.
With the vehicle about 40 feet from a nearby boat ramp, deputies and a local wrecker arrived on the scene to retrieve it. But when the Jeep was about to be pulled out of the water, authorities noticed something inside it.
“It was discovered a person was still in the vehicle and moving,” the sheriff’s department said.
The tow-truck driver and fisherman who called authorities were able to rescue the woman from the submerged vehicle. Emergency responders arrived on the scene, treated the woman for hypothermia and took her to a hospital.
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How did the woman get in the lake?
Capt. Chuck Rogers, an investigator at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, told USA TODAY authorities don’t know how or when the Jeep ended up there. It was approximately 18 minutes between the time deputies were dispatched and their arrival, he added.
“We do not know exactly how long the jeep was in the water. The victim confirmed it was at least a few hours,” Rogers said.
The woman, whose identity was not revealed, was listed as a missing person by the Longview Police Department, the sheriff’s office said.
“Due to the details regarding this incident, we will not be releasing a statement about this incident,” the police department told USA TODAY.
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