A woman is in hospital with serious injuries after a horrifying accident that ended with her being repeatedly compacted in a rubbish truck.

The 60-year-old woman, who has not been publicly named, apparently fell into a dumpster outside her apartment block in Manchester, in the US state of New Hampshire, on Monday (local time).

Monday happened to be rubbish day, and local fire authorities believe the woman was thrown from the dumper into the truck when it arrived to empty the complex’s rubbish bins.

Fire officials told local news outlet Boston 25 that the rubbish was compacted up to four times before the driver noticed the woman through a camera on his truck.

He called emergency services, who rushed to the rescue. Firefighters were able to talk to the woman through a side panel on the truck and said she was standing and talking, but was not alert enough to answer questions. She was removed from the truck after about half an hour.

“All you heard was screaming,” neighbour Amanda Czzowitz told Boston 25.

“She was in agony.”

Neighbours confirmed the woman is a resident of the apartment complex. She has reportedly told firefighters she somehow fell into the dumpster while throwing out her rubbish.

Fire officials said they were still investigating the incident.

“In 32 years, I’ve never seen anything like this my whole career,” fire chief Bob Beaudet said.

“It’s alarming, because you don’t really think it’s true. You don’t think it really happens, but in this day and age, times are tough, and people do different things. So, that was definitely one for the books.”

It remains unclear how long the woman was in the dumpster before she was thrown into the garbage truck.

Czzowitz’s husband, Matthew, told his daughters not to look when they pulled the woman to safety.

“My kids are home from school, and they’re watching. I was like, girls, once you see her come out, I don’t want you watching,” he said.

The woman was taken to a local hospital in a serious condition. She is expected to make a full recovery.