A strange situation unravelled in the city of Málaga yesterday with a young man trapped in an underground rubbish collector, clutching a string of rosaries.

It was around 06.30h on Monday that the police received a call to say that there was a person trapped within an underground rubbish container on Calle Pinzón.

These rubbish containers consist of two parts: a conventional rubbish hopper down a shaft, and a metal box on the surface through which to deposit your rubbish. The whole mechanism can be brought to the surface for the hopper to be emptied.

Personnel from the Fire Station were despatched. They saw that there was indeed a person jammed down there, so they removed the surface structure.

A fireman then descended and found the 24-year-old victim, bare-footed, semi-conscious and clutching a string of rosary beads. The Fireman tried to speak with him but the lad wasn’t making much sense, as if he were drunk or high (neither has been confirmed).

So, they put a harness on him and using ropes pulled him out. Once on the surface, unable to even stand, they put a thermal blanket on him to await the ambulance. However, apart from a couple of small cuts, he did not appear to have suffered any serious injuries.

How he found himself in the hopper, which was fortunately empty, is a mystery. It is also a 2.4m drop from the entrance on the surface to the hopper below in the shaft.

(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andaucia)

Keywords: Underground Rubbish Container, Trapped Inside, Rescued, Fire Personnel