A 69 year old woman survived for twenty days on tap water after being trapped in the bathroom of her Paris apartment when the lock jammed.
The room had no window and all she could do was tap on pipes during the night in the hope of alerting her neighbours.
However, the neighbours thought the noise was somebody renovating their apartment and started a petition to have it stopped.
Fortunately, though, there were some who realised they had not seen the pensioner recently and called the authorities. Firefighters broke into her second-floor flat in Epinay-sous-Senart to find her lying on the floor and in a very weakened state.