Arizona Department of Transportation workers formed a human chain Wednesday morning and rescued a woman from a canal where she had spent the night after being carried away by a swift current.

The 58-year-old woman slipped and fell into the canal in Gila Bend on Aug. 5 and spent the night clinging to a floating tire where the water is forced underground, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

“Ray Ruiz and several others at a nearby ADOT maintenance yard heard the woman and jumped in vehicles to follow the sound,” state transportation officials stated in a release.

They found her struggling in the water a quarter-mile away, linked arms and extended a shovel to pull her from the water. 

“It’s swift water and you could get pulled under the railroad tracks,” Ruiz said. “Basically, it’s a siphon.”

In addition to Ruiz, ADOT staff who participated in the rescue are John Gardner, Antonio Trejo Martinez, Salvador Mata Jr., Larry Ortega and David Robledo. They are all highway maintenance technicians.

Once the woman was out of the water, one employee gave her his shirt so she’d have something dry to wear, according to the release. When MCSO deputies arrived and took over, the ADOT maintenance technicians went back to work. 

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