A rescue mission by emergency services has freed a man whose hand became trapped in a garbage truck compactor.
The incident took place at an industrial worksite in Wetherill Park, in Sydney’s southwest, around 8.30am on Friday.
Fire and Rescue NSW said specialists had been tasked with freeing the 46-year-old man who had become trapped in the compactor around his hand and arm.
Around 12.30pm, a NSW Ambulance spokesperson confirmed that the man had been freed.
Fire crews and technicians trialled several strategies to safely free the man from the machinery, including cutting some of the metal using hydraulic power saws and also melting away some of the steel.
“It was a complex operation to free the man,” FRNSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said.
Ambulance officers stabilised the worker as fire crews considered dismantling the compactor mechanism.
Working alongside paramedics and a trauma doctor, the firefighters consulted the healthcare professionals to ensure the methods used were tolerable for the man.
“You‘re working to try and get him out in one piece,” Mr Dewberry said.
“It was a pretty great effort by all involved.”
More to come