A New York man had his life saved by a giant heap of rubbish that had been piling up.
Vangelis Kapatos jumped from the ninth floor window of his apartment, but was not killed because he hit the massive pile of garbage. The rubbish had been piling up there because the snowstorm earlier in the week had delayed rubbish collections. There had been over a foot of snow and therefore the rubbish had just piled up, meaning that in some areas there were piles of bags up to several feet in height on the sidewalks.
Kapatos’ Aunt explained that everyone had companied about the rubbish not being collected but she was extremely thankful. Despite falling from his West 45th Street apartment, Kapatos was left in a stable and critical condition, but it seems his life may have been saved. He is currently being treated in hospital.
The Mayor of the city, Micheal Bloomberg has said that the garbage collectors should catch up with the collections within the next few days. He estimated that 77,000 tonnes of trash needed to be collected as it had been piling up since 26th December. He explained that the snow had meant that they could not come out and collect and so while they were delayed, the bags had piled up higher and higher. He was hoping that now they were out on the road again, it should only take three to four days to get everything picked up and get back on top of things.
Kapatos’ Aunt, Katharina Capatos, explained that he had been very depressed, having been released firn Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric ward the week before and he was worried about being evicted form his flat, the hearing for which was due to take place the day after he jumped from the window.