DECATUR, Ala. (AP) -- A nude, dehydrated teenager was rescued after apparently spending nearly three days in a hot railroad tanker car used to store processed fertilizer, but he refused to tell authorities how he got there, police said.
Emergency responders dropped a ladder through the train car's roof opening and brought 17-year-old Mark Cody White out around noon Monday after a worker heard him holler and found clothes beside the tanker.
White, of Hartselle, was rescued by a firefighter wearing a yellow hazardous material suit because the tanker contained a residual amount of diammonium phosphate, which can cause irritation upon skin contact. The nude teen, described as shaking and exhausted, was doused with a water hose to remove any of the chemical, then wrapped in a sheet and taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released.
White's mother, Ramona Barber, spoke with him at the hospital. She told The Decatur Daily he had wrecked his car in a ditch Friday night and, while walking to a relative's house, was beaten, robbed and thrown in the tanker by three men.
Police Capt. Ken Collier, head of the criminal investigation division, said Tuesday no robbery probe was being conducted.
''He was uncooperative,'' Collier said. ''He refused to tell police what happened.''
White's mother said he was lucky to have survived the ordeal.
''He was dehydrated,'' she said. ''It was about 150 degrees in there, and he stripped his clothes off, trying to stay alive. He thought he was going to die because he couldn't get out. I'm so grateful someone heard him. He's so lucky to be alive.''
She said medical staff at Decatur General Hospital gave him medication and told him to rest for two days.
''He's pretty bruised up, but didn't have a concussion,'' she said.
