An American engineering student, left forgotten in a holding cell by federal drug agents without food or water for five days, said he survived the ordeal by drinking his own urine.
Daniel Chong, a student of University of California, San Deigo was swept up into custody along with eight others in a DEA raid on April 21 that unearthed 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons.
After several hours of questioning, the 24-year-old student said that DEA agents told him that they would let him go and even drive him home He was then returned to the holding cell to await release.
But to his surprise Chong spent endless hours to be a free bird.
The student said he languished in the cell as agents outside his Five-by-Ten windowless cell could not hear his cries for help.
"I had to recycle my own urine. I had to do what I had to do to survive," Chong told U-T San Diego Newspaper.
As hours turned into days, Chong said, in frustration, he bit into his glasses to break them and tried to use a shard to scratch ‘Sorry Mom’ into his arm to desperately pass time and keep his mind away from the ordeal he was facing.
The student was finally found on April 25 and taken to a hospital for treatment for cramps, dehydration and a perforated lung.
Later, a DEA spokesman admitted that Chong had accidentally been left in the cell, but did not comment on his claim that he went without food or water for five days.
Now his Attorney Eugene Iredale said that he plans to file a claim suit against the federal government.