They Strolled by Garbage Truck, Heard Frantic Yells

A San Francisco man survived being compacted in a garbage truck after a passerby heard his screams before the next load was crushed. Fire officials say the driver had already compressed the trash once on his route just after 4am on Wednesday when someone walking by alerted him to the shouting inside the Recology truck, per People. Roughly two dozen firefighters spent more than two hours digging through the truck rather than dumping its contents, which was deemed too risky.

The fire department posted video of the messy endeavor. Paramedics reached the man's arm to start an IV to guard against crush syndrome, a dangerous complication of prolonged compression. The man, believed to have originally been in a dumpster, stayed conscious and talking throughout the rescue and was freed before 7am, then taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in serious condition. KGO reports that a firefighter was also hospitalized after he cut his hand on something in the truck while working. The case is under investigation.