A 60-year-old woman was heard screaming in agony as she was compacted inside a garbage truck at least four times after falling into a dumpster outside her apartment complex.
The New Hampshire woman, who was not identified, was taken to Elliot Hospital around 1:30 p.m. Monday with critical injuries that she is expected to survive, Boston 25 said.
“She was in agony,” neighbor Amanda Czzowitz told the outlet. “All you heard was screaming.”
The woman somehow fell into the dumpster of her apartment complex in Manchester while trying to throw out a bag of trash, she told firefighters.
It is unknown how long she remained there before the garbage truck emptied the dumpster, taking her with it.
She was rescued from the truck after the driver noticed her on the internal camera and called 911.
Firefighters were able to talk to her through a side panel on the truck and said she was standing and talking, but was not alert enough to answer questions, Boston.com reported.
It took 30 minutes for firefighters to access the woman through the top of the truck. They pulled her out using a basket and crane.
The fire department is still investigating.
Czzowitz’s husband, Matthew, told his kids not to look when they pulled the woman to safety.
“My kids are home from school, and they’re watching. I was like, girls, once you see her come out, I don’t want you watching,” he told Boston 25.
Battalion Chief Bob Beaudet told WMUR that he has “never seen anything like this my whole career.”
“It’s alarming, because you don’t really think it’s true,” he said of such a wild scenario. “So, that was definitely one for the books.”