A stroke of extraordinary luck turned to despair, then jubilation, for an Italian woman after her €1m lottery ticket was rescued from a mountain of rubbish in a painstaking day-long search.
A costly mistake
An Italian woman narrowly missed losing a €1 million fortune after she accidentally threw her winning lottery ticket into the bin. The drama began when she visited her local shop to validate the slip shortly after the draw. The terminal indicated that the prize could not be collected on the premises, leading her to assume the ticket was worthless. She left it on the counter, and it was swiftly swept into the shop’s general waste.
It was only later, when relatives told her that her exact numbers had been drawn, that the devastating truth dawned on her. She rushed back to the shop, but it was too late: the bin had already been emptied and the refuse lorry had moved on.
A painstaking hunt
In a remarkable turn of events, the family managed to trace the specific collection vehicle and have it halted. The lorry was diverted to a designated depot, where a team of waste disposal workers embarked on an extraordinary rescue mission. For more than 24 hours, they sifted by hand through a seemingly endless stream of receipts, bills and everyday refuse.
Against all odds, they eventually spotted the precious slip of paper, which workers described as having “miraculously remained intact.” News of the discovery reduced the owner to tears of relief. The director of the waste collection company remarked that it was one of the most unusual and moving cases of his entire career.
