Rescued Woman Says She Floated on Air Mattress for 2 Days

'Connie' was spotted on the shores of Lake Texoma in Oklahoma by crew members on a passing train
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 7, 2022 8:33 AM CST
Train Workers Make a Most Unusual Rescue
Stock photo of Lake Texoma.   (Getty Images/Adam Koudaih)

Crew members on a train zipping past an Oklahoma lake were treated to a strange sight last week, and it turned out to be one lucky sighting. KRMG reports that a BNSF Railway train was headed south along Lake Texoma on Thursday when conductor Cristhian Sosa and engineer Justin Luster spotted a woman along the shore, clinging to an air mattress and waving one of her arms. "We instantly knew she was hurt and she needed help," Sosa said.

According to BNSF Railway spokesperson Lena Kent, the two crew members halted the train, radioed for help, and walked back the length of 26 train cars to get to the stranded woman, reports NBC News. Luster and Sosa said the woman, who identified herself as "Connie," told them she'd floated for two days on the air mattress in freezing weather after being separated from her significant other on the lake, per KRMG. However, Sosa also noted that Connie "had no recollection of time," at one point telling the men she'd been on land for two days cowering under the mattress.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials could only confirm that the woman and her male companion had been using the air mattress as a raft to get to a boat on the lake. It's not clear exactly what happened after that attempt—Sosa mentions something about Connie telling them she'd tried retrieve items that were drifting away from the boat and then started drifting away herself—but soon she found herself alone on the raft and floated 2 miles before making it to shore, per the OHP.

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Kent notes that when Sosa and Luster found her, the woman's hands were bleeding, she had trouble walking, and she seemed to have signs of hypothermia. She was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover. As for the man who'd been with Connie, he reportedly made it to shore and to a nearby residence, per KTRE, which notes: "If it sounds like there is more to this story, OHP said there probably is." (More strange stuff stories.)

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