A 45-year-old Belgian woman has survived being trapped in her crashed car for six days during a recent European heatwave, drinking rainwater collected in a chewing gum packet to survive.

Key points: Ms Bastide was left stranded after injuring her spine in a car crash

Ms Bastide was left stranded after injuring her spine in a car crash She drank rainwater to survive after opening her car door with her foot

She drank rainwater to survive after opening her car door with her foot She said she the thought of her children kept her alive

Corine Bastide was reported missing by family after last being seen at a service station in Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse, near the Belgian city of Liege, on July 23.

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Ms Bastide was stranded and unable to move after injuring her spine as she crashed into woods near the Saint-Georges exit.

Recovering from the incident in hospital, Ms Bastide told Belgian public broadcaster RTBF her phone did not stop ringing the first night she was stranded, but she was unable to answer it because the pain in her arm restricted her movement.

"I was unconscious, and the pain was strong, every time I moved my arm I lost consciousness, I tried to move all the time and then I fell asleep," she told RTBF.

By the next morning her phone battery was dead and she was unable to get out of her car, as she had lost movement in one of her legs.

Her screams for help going unanswered, Ms Bastide survived over the next six days by drinking rainwater amid sweltering conditions as high as 41.7 degrees Celsius across the country.

Opening her car door with her foot, she managed to climb out into the rain, lying on broken glass from the crash.

Ms Bastide will need to undergo surgery and spend several weeks in hospital. ( Supplied )

"I was trying to drink a little while filling a small box of chewing gum, it took forever to fill," she said.

"I also took a wet branch to feel wet in the mouth. But I did not feel hungry.

"The most difficult thing was to be lying on pieces of glass. I was trying to pull myself up but I felt like my whole back was tearing up."

She said she managed to survive by thinking about her children, holding on long enough until she was discovered on Monday by a woman who had joined a public search for her.

"The lady who found me, I cannot thank her enough, she saw the car below and she came and asked me if I was Corine? 'Do you know me?'," she said.

"She told me they were looking for me everywhere. She stayed with me all the time and that lady I think is my guardian angel."

According to a report in the UK Times newspaper, Ms Bastide's son said his mother would need to undergo surgery and would be required to stay in hospital for several weeks.