A man was trapped inside his crashed pickup truck for six days, drinking rainwater to survive, before fisherman finally spotted and rescued him, Indiana police have said.

The 27-year-old man had been pinned tightly inside his car beneath a highway bridge in northwest Indiana, and could not reach his phone.

Two men scouting for fishing spots on Tuesday afternoon noticed the smashed up vehicle with its opened white airbag, and decided to investigate inside, police told reporters.

“They touched the body, and the person turned their head and started talking to them. So, that got a little rise out of them,” Sergeant Glen Fifield of the Indiana State Police said during a news conference.

The driver had been travelling on Interstate 94 ahead of a bridge over Salt Creek.

Police believe he missed the guardrail and rolled several times before landing on the other side of the creek, hidden out of sight from the road above.

Matthew Reum, of Mishawaka, Indiana, was freed from the wreckage on Tuesday evening by first responders working under bright floodlights, then airlifted to a hospital in South Bend with life-threatening injuries, Mr Fifield said.

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“He made it through the night. He is alive,” he told The Associated Press. He said Mr Reum remained in critical condition on Wednesday morning.

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South Bend Memorial Hospital released a statement on Mr Reum’s behalf thanking people for their support and well wishes, “including the Good Samaritans who found him, the first responders and his caregivers”.

“No matter how tough things get, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes in the least expected way,” Mr Reum said in the statement.

Mario Garcia, one of the fishermen who found the wreck, said Mr Reum was awake and “very happy to see us”, after being exposed to the elements since 20 December.

“It almost killed me there, because it was so shocking” to find him alive, Mr Garcia said during a news conference in the nearby city of Portage, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

Mr Garcia said the trapped Mr Reum told them he had screamed and called for help, but heard only the “quiet sound of water”.

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Mr Fifield said Mr Reum had not been reported as missing and that the trapped driver was forced to drink rainwater to survive.

“Had it not been for the two individuals that were walking the creek this afternoon, this incident more than likely would have had a different outcome,” said Mr Fifield.

Mr Reum’s “will to survive this crash was nothing short of extraordinary”, he added.

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