Union Pacific Police told 17 News a train crew heard tapping inside a railcar while testing air lines. That tapping led to a man's rescue who told firemen he was trapped inside for nine days.
The man, who doesn't speak English, was discovered around 1:30 Thursday afternoon in a storage train car on the lot of California Portland Cement Company in Mojave.
Firefighters treated the rescue as a hazmat situation as a precaution. "We wanted to make sure that we protect everything else, ourselves, him, making sure that we follow our procedures," said Engineer Anthony Romero with the Kern County Fire Department.
Officers say the hopper car arrived from Stockton Wednesday night and say the man got on the top of it, got in, and couldn't get out. The storage car contained dust from cement.
The man has been taken to Antelope Valley Hospital.
