A homeless man in Almuñécar decided to find shelter and pass the night in a rubbish hopper, which nearly cost him his life.

The hopper had automatically been upended and emptied into the back of the lorry where the compactor was crunching away.

Fortunately, the driver caught sight of a hand in inspection camera and immediately stopped the mechanism from crushing the life out of the man.

This occurred on Saturday the 4th around 06.15h when the refuse lorry was doing its rounds, emptying the paper & carboard recycling bins. Little did they know that the homeless man had climbed in to use the cardboard packing boxes to keep warm.

In the lorry, there is an automated crusher to compress the cardboard, etc. It also has sharp edges to cut through the cardboard whilst compressing.

The operator has a camera in the compactor and it was thanks to this view that he saw a hand sticking out.

The driver, Raúl, climbed over to peer into the back and saw a man in there who already had a leg injury (it was broken).

With the emergency services alerted, fire personnel used their specialised vehicle to hoist the man out on a stretcher. Paramedics took over and took him to Hospital de Santa Ana in Motril by ambulance. Whilst the rescue operation had been taking place, the Policía Local controlled the early morning traffic.

Apparently, the Policía Local have come across him several times sleeping on the streets and offered shelter for the night, which he has always refused.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: refuse lorry, compactor, homeless man, broken leg, carboard recycling bin, nearly fatal

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