Spanish woman killed by rubbish crusher

A SPANISH woman has been crushed by a rubbish compressor while rooting around a dump for scrap metal.

The unemployed woman, 55, was killed on Wednesday while she searched a municipal landfill in Jaen, southern Spain, with her two sons.

After witnessing their mother’s death the two sons then assaulted the driver of the vehicle, leaving him badly beaten, before police intervened.

The driver has been transferred to hospital in Jaen, under police protection. His condition is stable.

Police are today expected to take a statement from the driver on the incident, which is thought to have been an accident.

While access to landfills is forbidden in Spain, the economic crisis has driven increasing numbers of local people to attempt to enter sites in order to search for valuable materials.

Workers have reportedly been unhappy about the security of the dump for some time.

Ambulances were called to the scene but the woman is thought to have been killed instantly.