Compulsive hoarder crushed to death under huge trash pile

Police in Vigo, Galicia received a call from a woman in the Canary Islands, concerned about her friend living in Alcabre, who had not used Facebook nor WhatsApp in six days, according to local newspaper Faro de Vigo.

The 51-year-old man lived alone and reportedly suffered from Diogenes syndrome which is characterized by extreme self-neglect, apathy, compulsive hoarding of garbage, among other symptoms.

When officers arrived at the man's home, they found enormous piles of garbage surrounding the home.

“It was something out of the ordinary,” officers told the local newspaper.

The man's body was  discovered wedged between a one-metre-deep heap of trash and a door to the house.

The stacks of waste made it nearly impossible to enter the home and police had to call in firefighters to retrieve the body, which appeared to show no signs of violence.

Officers believe that the somehow the pile of trash may have fallen on the man and he was unable to get out, but are still awaiting an autopsy.