BEIJING – A woman stranded for 15 days in an abandoned well in central China said Wednesday that she shouted for help every day and began to lose hope, but that she managed to survive on raw corn and rainwater.

Su Qixiu, 48, was gathering herbs when she fell into the 4-meter-deep well in a village in Henan province on Sept. 1. Her husband and children unsuccessfully searched for her, but she was finally found Monday by a passer-by, state media reported.

“I shouted every day in those 16 days. And spoke a lot of nonsense. I was scared and felt hopeless,” Su said.

She said she was walking past a cornfield but couldn’t see the road clearly and fell into the well. Although the well, hidden from view by the corn plants, is only about 1 meter in diameter and 4 meters deep, its smooth walls made climbing out difficult, the Dahe Daily reported.

Su was “scarily skinny” when found, said one of the firefighters who rescued her. Su said she lost around 15 kg during her ordeal and now weighed around 40 kg.

She survived by eating raw corn she was carrying when she fell into the well, while two rain showers during the ordeal provided her with water to drink, the paper said.

Villagers eventually heard her calls for help while they were out harvesting corn, the paper said.

Su’s doctor said she at first was unable to speak and had organ failure, but that her condition had stabilized and she was receiving fluids in a local hospital.