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ROME - Italian garbage collectors recovered a €1 million (US$1.15 million) lottery ticket that had been mistakenly thrown away after spending hours sifting through rubbish bags, according to local media on Tuesday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The woman from the south-eastern town of Bitonto left the ticket at a lottery outlet after it was marked "not payable," ANSA news agency reported, citing the local refuse collection service.
This was because the €1 million prize was too large to be paid out directly at the outlet, Roberto Nicola Toscano, head of waste management company SANB, told ANSA.
It was only when they got home that the family realised what the ticket was worth, he said.
By that time, the ticket had already ended up in the rubbish.
Toscano said his staff then spent hours sifting through the contents of a refuse lorry at a sorting facility after tracing the route of the rubbish collected from the lottery outlet.
At around 5.30 am, an employee finally discovered the ticket, which was still intact, in a torn bin bag among numerous damaged lottery tickets.
"There's something wonderful about this story,” Toscano told ANSA after the winning ticket was returned to the lucky owner. - BERNAMA