There are people who somehow have difficulty throwing things away and would often opt to keep old items close to them. While it’s usually harmless, hoarding can become quite serious when left unchecked.
A woman in Penang found herself literally buried inside her own home no thanks to piles of rubbish she herself had collected over a long period of time and had to be rescued by authorities.
86yo M’sian woman trapped inside home by trash she kept
According to NST, the 86-year-old single woman lived alone at her double-storey home at Jalan Mano, which was inundated with trash and recyclable materials she collected for several years.
When reporters scoured around the woman’s home, they were met with a mountain of trash, which not only filled the house’s interior, but the porch as well, where three cars were parked there.
As such, she was unable to walk around freely inside her home, let alone get out of it, prompting her family to contact the Civil Defense Force (APM) for assistance.
APM northeast district officer, Muhammad Aizat Abdul Ghani, told the English daily that APM personnel reached the scene at 4.40pm on Sunday (Oct 13) after the woman’s family called for help and claimed she was in poor health.
Her family claimed that she was prone to falls and would call them in the middle of the night to seek help. As such, her family wants to send her to an old folk’s home after obtaining her consent.
“Four APM personnel were roped in for the task and managed to carry the woman out using a stretcher,” he said.
Muhammad Aizat said the elderly woman was given first-aid treatment and was later found to be suffering from diabetes, hypertension, hearing problems, and physical weakness.
Not only is hoarding poses a health hazard, it can also lead to the breakdown of relationships, as one man learnt:
