Garbage Collectors Go Through Trash After Woman Accidentally Throws Winning Lottery Ticket
The garbage collectors had to rummage for 30 minutes in the hot and humid weather before the ticket was found.
By Aqasha Nalani — 02 Dec 2022, 02:22 PM
A Singaporean woman panicked when she found out that the lottery ticket she had thrown away was a winning ticket
The woman, 40-year-old Pearlyn Yap, said that she placed an SGD12 (RM39) bet at a 4D authorised retailer near her home in Geylang Serai on 11 September, only to discover that the lottery ticket had gone missing a few hours later, reported AsiaOne.
She continued to check her home's closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage and found that she had inadvertently thrown it down the garbage chute.
Pearlyn's stomach sank when she proceeded to check the lottery results moments later, which revealed that one of the numbers on the ticket, 1234, had won her SGD500 (RM1,625)
"Such a rare chance to win 4D and I literally threw it away," she lamented.
Pearlyn initially thought she should just forget about her loss, but the prize money was too tempting to pass up, and she decided to go to any length to reclaim the ticket.
"The next morning at 11am, I called Sembcorp's (an energy and urban development company in Singapore) customer service and explained the situation to them. An hour later, three [garbage disposal] workers showed up at my block," she said.
Pearlyn described the search operation as tedious, saying that two workers stood on both sides of the garbage truck to quickly go through trash from the previous day for her to check
The ticket was found after the employees rummaged through the garbage for about 30 minutes in the hot and humid weather.
"I really salute them. It's not a clean environment - the pungent smell with flies around," said Pearlyn who added that she gave each worker SGD12 (RM39) for their efforts.
These garbage collectors also came to the rescue when some local residents accidentally threw away their valuables:
