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Pittsburgh Man Stranded Nearly 3 Days After Wheelchair Breaks In Tunnel

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A Pittsburgh man has an incredible story of survival after his wheelchair broke and he was forced to spend nearly three-days inside an old railroad tunnel.

Police say he was headed to Connellsville on the Great Allegheny Passage when one of the wheels on his wheelchair came off.

He became stranded inside the Pinkerton Tunnel.

Emergency officials were called in to rescue the man, but the tunnel was too small for an ambulance to rescue him.

"If we had had a medical emergency right where we were, we had no cell service, we would be in ... trouble," said Patty Reynolds who was traveling on the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail with her husband.

An ATV was called in to help get him out of the tunnel.

Police say he was taken to Somerset hospital with chills and dehydration but is expected to be OK.

"That man isn't fortunate, he's blessed," said Reynolds. "The lord had his hand on him."

The Great Allegheny Passage begins in Pittsburgh and continues all the way to Washington.

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