Woman Rescued After Three Days Trapped In Basement - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

"God help me." That's the desperate cry for help Lieutenant Steve Cartmell says is branded in his mind.

"It was very cold, very low visibility and very tight," says Cartmell. There was no light, only a voice to lead the way when Lieutenant. Cartmell and another diver lowered into a basement to rescue a woman trapped there for three days.  He says, "It was waist high to chest high water and a woman trapped down there and there's no steps."

There were no steps because when 59-year old Roselyn Willis went to her basement Sunday to check on a circuit breaker the steps collapsed. She plunged to the basement of her home on Douglass Drive in Douglass, Berks County. She landed in about four feet of water, sewage, and heating oil. Investigators believe the sump pump had been broken for awhile.

Amity Fire Company called in Keystone Fire of Boyertown to help with a rare and sophisticated rescue. Captain Tony Boyd says,"We put two divers in dry suits, put them in basement to assist the victim out of the basement and up on a ladder. Then they extracated the ladder out of the basement with a haul system."

Police say Willis's cries for help went unanswered from Sunday until Tuesday when a friend who hadn't heard from her went to the house. Township engineers condemned the house Wednesday.  Douglass Township Police Chief David Franke is glad for Willis's friend who alerted them. He says, "We need to check on our family members, loved ones and neighbors just to make sure. It's the brotherly thing to do."

Willis was taken to Reading Hospital. She has non-life threatening injuries. She was severely dehydrated though. Police say she will be staying with family out of the area for now.