OUCH! - Man goes out for fried chicken, spends three days in drain

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Man rescued after 3 days trapped in sewer drain

Associated Press Sept. 10, 2001 06:50:00

HOUSTON - Kevin Funchess' trip to get some fried chicken turned into a three-day nightmare spent wedged in a storm sewer drain.

Firefighters rescued Kevin Funchess, 41, on Saturday after he was finally able to reach his cell phone and call 911. He had fallen into the manhole Wednesday night, and had been without food or water ever since.

Funchess was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon. He suffered muscle damage, dehydration and irregular breathing.

Firefighters said the teacher's family had been trying to reach him during the ordeal, but Funchess said he wasn't able to answer the phone.

"It truly is a test of faith," Funchess said in today's editions of the Houston Chronicle.

Funchess was crossing a highway on his way to a fried chicken restaurant when he fell into the hole. His head was jammed against the sewer wall and his left side was pinned so that he could only move his right hand. He struggled to reach the cell phone in his backpack, which was stuck underneath him.

Until Saturday, he was unable to maneuver his hand to reach the phone, which rang several times. He yelled for help, but nobody answered.

Funchess said the street was nearly 3 feet above his head. He could see a side of the freeway and the changes from day to night, but he "lost all conception of time." He said he was grateful for the steady vibration of cars overhead.

Funchess said he prayed, slept and thought about his students and his grandmother. He said he didn't think about death.

"I was too close to home to die," he said.

Funchess said he was "stunned, dizzy, panicky" when he was rescued.

Funchess' family was concerned but thought he might be working or staying with friends. Joann Cannon, his mother, said they didn't know he was missing until the 911 operator called Saturday.

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001

Answers

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Intoxicated Man Falls Into Open Manhole

Man Rescued After Spending Night Underground

Posted: 7:43 a.m. CDT September 10, 2001

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma City man was back at home Monday morning after spending Saturday underground.

The man was pulled out of a drainage ditch near Southwest 35th and Broadway. Firefighters said the man told them that he was walking home drunk when he fell into an open manhole. He ended up spending the night there.

A man living near the manhole said that he was having coffee on his front porch when he heard sounds coming from the ground.

"I said, 'Well, maybe somebody is trapped in the creek,'" D.J. Limpf, who called 911, said. "I went over by the creek and noticed the open storm drain, and there he was."

At the time of his rescue, the trapped man was not wearing any clothes.

He told firefighters that he took off his clothes because he was afraid he would be pulled into the water.

The man was not seriously injured in the accident.

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001


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