A missing university student in was likely crushed and incinerated after passing out in garbage, according to local authorities.
Agostina Rubini Medina, 24, had been missing for two weeks after night out in the city of Palma, the capitol of the island of Majorca, Spain. Authorities in Spain now have a new theory as to how the student disappeared after human remains were found at a waste disposal plant, where Medina’s phone was last active. Her phone was last active on Oct. 3 and Spanish authorities believe that she fell into a garbage can while trying to retrieve something, before passing out.
A witness in the area said they saw Medina’s handbag sitting by the garbage can 15 minutes before workers arrived to empty it. Her phone died shortly before a garbage truck arrived at the waste facility. Authorities believe she would have died in the truck before it arrived at the facility.
Medina was a social integration and native to the island of Majorca. Once authorities pieced their theory together intensive search of landfills in the area were carried out and human remains were discovered in one of the incineration tanks. Garbage on the island is collected before being brought to the waste facility then compacted and incinerated before being stored.
The remains were sent to Institute of Legal Medicine in Palma for analysis. DNA tests will be used to confirm if the human remains found were those of Medina. News of the tragedy shook the small Spanish island. Authorities say if Medina was in fact scooped into the garbage truck, it would have been ‘impossible to survive’ the journey to the waste facility. Once at the facility trucks dump nearly 12,000 tons of trash into a sealed room.
Authorities told the Daily Mail that is would take months to sort through all the waste in search of any further remains. Police initially searched the first incineration tank at the facility, but then extended their search to the second where they would eventually find the human remains. The tanks incinerate garbage at more than 1,200C. Police are putting together CCTV footage from various sources around the area they believe Medina went missing. They say that it is likely that alcohol and drugs played a role in her decision to climb into the waste basket, possibly in search of her phone.
