Missing Student Believed to Have Been Crushed and Incinerated at Waste Plant After Collapsing in Trash, Authorities Say

A 24-year-old university student from Majorca, Spain, Agostina Rubini Medina, is believed to have tragically died after accidentally falling into a garbage container and being crushed and incinerated, according to local authorities. Medina had been missing for two weeks following a night out in Palma, the capital of Majorca.

Her last known phone activity was on October 3, and authorities now have a new theory regarding her disappearance after human remains were found at a waste disposal plant. Investigators suspect that Medina may have fallen into a garbage bin while trying to retrieve something and subsequently passed out.

According to a witness, her handbag was seen next to a garbage can about 15 minutes before workers arrived to empty it. Shortly after, her phone went dead, just before the garbage truck arrived at the waste facility. Authorities believe that Medina likely died in the garbage truck before reaching the plant, as per reports by The Sun.

Medina, a social integration student and native of Majorca, disappeared after the night out, and once authorities began piecing together the theory of her fate, an intensive search of the island’s landfills was initiated. During this search, human remains were found inside one of the incineration tanks at the waste facility.

The remains have been sent to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Palma for analysis, and DNA tests will be conducted to confirm if they belong to Medina. This tragic development has shaken the small Spanish island. Local authorities have expressed that if Medina did end up inside the garbage truck, survival would have been “impossible” due to the crushing and incineration process that occurs once the garbage reaches the waste facility.

The trucks dump around 12,000 tons of trash into sealed rooms at the facility, where the waste is compacted and then incinerated at temperatures exceeding 1,200°C. Authorities told the Daily Mail that sorting through all the waste in search of additional remains could take months. Initially, police searched the first incineration tank at the facility, but they extended their investigation to a second tank where the remains were eventually found.

Authorities are continuing to gather evidence, including reviewing CCTV footage from around the area where Medina went missing. They believe that alcohol and drugs may have influenced Medina’s decision to climb into the garbage bin, possibly in search of her phone, leading to the tragic accident.