Woman falls 10 stories down trash chute after ingesting multiple drugs, New Jersey rescuers say

A woman was severely injured when she fell 10 stories down a trash chute and got stuck, New Jersey rescuers said. 

Investigators said Monday the 25-year-old woman ingested alcohol and a combination of narcotics before she fell into the 3-foot-wide chute at an apartment building in Hackensack. 

Tenant heard woman crying for help

Firefighters were called at around 1 p.m. Sunday to the building on Main Street, where they learned the woman went inside the 14th-floor trash chute and fell. 

Massiel Gutierrez said she was putting boxes in the seventh-floor garbage room when she heard the woman screaming. 

"All I hear is screaming ... I got so freaked that I left, I ran," Gutierrez said. "I was like wait, hold up, maybe somebody needs help." 

Gutierrez said she went back to ask the woman if she was OK and then called for help. 

"She was just screaming in a different language," Gutierrez said. 

It was an "all hands" effort as Hackensack Police and EMS also responded to help the woman, who investigators said was visiting a tenant. Crews determined she fell to the third or fourth floor and got stuck on a pile of backed-up trash. 

"The fire department received a call for a person trapped in a garbage chute, which is very unusual," Hackensack Fire Chief Keith Rosazza said. 

Surveillance video shows the woman entering the garbage room alone.   

According to Gutierrez, tenants on the 14th floor heard "knocking on everybody's door" before the woman fell.   

Hospitalized with significant injuries

Rescuers started to extricate the woman by using saws to remove panels from the trash chute discharge. Firefighters removed trash from the chute until the woman could get out feet first.

Authorities said the woman was rushed to the hospital with significant injuries.

The rescue operation took a little less than 30 minutes, according to fire officials. Pictures show the metal tube, which was part of the chute, cut open while trash is scattered across the room. 

"They used saws to breach it and they were luckily able to remove the trash out from the bottom that had accumulated in the chute, so that they were able to safely remove the victim that way," Rosazza said. 

One firefighter was injured after getting cut by a metal sheet inside the garbage chute. 

Representatives for the building declined CBS News New York's request for comment.