A failed escape attempt.
A 38-year-old Australian man was rescued by firefighters on Monday after spending more than 30 hours in Brisbane's sewers.
Although he initially told authorities that he went into the sewers to retrieve his cell phone, the police quickly realized that the reason was quite different.
Very early in the morning of Sunday, around 4:20 a.m. local time, the man was behind the wheel and caused a first road accident with a police car and a second with another vehicle, the driver of which was injured.
It was then that the suspect abruptly got out of his car and left the scene of the accident on foot to find refuge in the sewers.
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It was a local resident named James Lingwood who alerted the emergency services on Monday after hearing screams coming from the manhole.
The day before, the man had already been heard by this same passerby who offered him help, but he allegedly told him that everything was fine.
He had to drink rainwater to survive
“He seemed fine and he said he could get out the way he came in, so I left him alone.
(…) I don’t think he thought he was in any great danger at that moment,” he tells the Daily Mail.
But when he returned to the scene on Monday, he decided to act by calling for help after hearing “heavy breathing” indicating that “someone was in distress”.
Extricated from the sewer system by firefighters, the suspect told them that he had spent most of the time partially submerged in water looking for a way out and that he had to drink rainwater to survive .
He was then rushed to a hospital in the south of the city where he was treated for hypothermia and some abrasions.
“It's amazing what people do sometimes and what happens, so yes, there are always surprises,” Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski told media on Tuesday, as quoted by the BBC.
Now in a stable condition, the man is now being questioned by the police as part of their investigations.