San Francisco Bystanders Hear Screaming From Garbage Truck. Then They Discover a Trapped Man Nearly Crushed Inside
They had to manually dump out the trash.
What was supposed to be a routine early morning garbage pickup turned into a two-hour rescue mission when someone was allegedly heard screaming for help from inside the vehicle. San Francisco firefighters later rescued a man who got trapped and nearly crushed after he was accidentally loaded into a Recology truck while dumpster diving.
A bystander reportedly heard the screaming and flagged down the Recology truck driver to alert them to the noise coming from inside the vehicle. The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) was later dispatched to Mason Street shortly before 4:15am on Sept. 2, with around 25 firefighters on the scene.
The man was unable to exit the truck as the trash had already been compacted, leaving him buried under the load. According to SFFD’s public information officer, Capt. Mariano Elias, it was also deemed unsafe to simply unload all the trash at once from the vehicle through normal means, as it may cause further injury to the man, in a statement to PEOPLE.
San Francisco firefighters rush to rescue the man
The man reportedly remained conscious throughout the rescue and was able to communicate as firefighters carefully removed the garbage by hand to reach him. After roughly two hours, the man was rescued and was immediately assessed by waiting paramedics.
The man was administered an intravenous drip by paramedics to prevent crush syndrome, which is a potentially life-threatening condition that can arise from prolonged traumatic pressure on muscle tissue and cause muscle cell damage. When these are damaged, it may result in the release of “systemically toxic” contents, such as myoglobin, phosphate, urate, and potassium, into the circulatory system, according to ScienceDirect.
Crush syndrome can result in abnormalities like hypovolaemic shock, hyperkalemia, metabolic acidosis, arrhythmias, and hypocalcaemia. It may also lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, sepsis, and cardiac arrest.
The man was eventually transported to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital before 7am. According to a spokesperson for the hospital, the man is currently in serious condition, per The San Francisco Standard. However, the injuries he sustained from the incident remain unclear. One firefighter also received a hand laceration.
This incident highlighted the dangers associated with dumpster diving or entering containers unintended for human occupancy. Aside from the health hazard it poses, there is the possibility of getting trapped inside. There is also no guarantee that garbage truck drivers will check containers before empyting it and using the compactor.
“It’s an unfortunate situation to lead someone to go into a dumpster, whether that was to sleep or fish through some things to find something for himself or something to eat,” Elias told PEOPLE. “But the good part of his outcome is that he’s alive.”
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