In a terrifying incident in Manchester, New Hampshire, a 60-year-old woman fell into her apartment dumpster and was subsequently compacted in a trash truck not once, but four times during the routine trash collection on a Monday around 1 pm, as reported by fire officials.

The woman was emptied into a sanitation truck during the trash collection process, and the garbage was compacted multiple times before the driver noticed her presence through a camera on the truck. The quick-thinking driver promptly dialled 911, and first responders initiated a rescue operation that lasted about half an hour. Bystanders watched in shock as rescuers utilised a basket lifted by a fire truck crane to safely extract her from the truck. Neighbour Amanda Czzowitz recalled, “All you heard was screaming. She was in agony.”

The rescue was challenging as it required accessing the woman and safely extracting her from the top of the truck, according to the fire department, as reported by Boston.com. After being carefully placed on a stretcher, she was rushed to Eliot Hospital in serious condition. Fortunately, she is expected to recover.

The exact duration of time the woman spent inside the dumpster before being emptied into the truck remains unknown. Battalion Chief Bob Beaudet expressed his astonishment, stating, “In 32 years, I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole career. It’s alarming because you don’t really think it’s true. You don’t think it really happens, but in this day and age, times are tough, and people do different things. So, that was definitely one for the books.”

The woman, who has not been publicly identified, informed firefighters that she accidentally fell into the dumpster while disposing of trash at her apartment complex on Beech Hill Drive. She was able to communicate through a side access panel on the truck but was unable to respond to the firefighters’ inquiries.

Neighbours confirmed that she was a fellow resident at the complex and expressed their concern for her well-being during the ordeal. Neighbour Matthew Czzowitz recalled how he shielded his children from the distressing scene, saying, “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.”

This incident bears eerie similarities to a harrowing event that occurred nearly two years ago when 18 people were rescued from the back of a refrigerated lorry at a service station in Cambridgeshire, East England.