Daughter throws away mattress stuffed with mother's $1m life savings

[Al-khiyal]

Daughter throws away mattress stuffed with mother's $1m life savings

June 10, 2009 -- With the collapse of the world's banking system, an Israeli woman's decision to keep her life savings in her mattress must have seemed like a wise one. But it came back to haunt her when her daughter threw the mattress out – along with $1m (£611,000) stuffed into the lining.

Security guards have been placed on landfill sites in Tel Aviv to keep treasure hunters away, as word spread in Israel of what must be the worst exchange since Aladdin's battered old magic lantern was swapped for a shiny new one. The daughter, identified only as Anat, generously bought her mother a new mattress on Sunday, and got rid of the old one.

Anat, who did not want to reveal her full name, told Israeli radio that she had wanted to surprise her mother. She was shattered to learn that her mother had banked all her savings in that most traditional of hiding places. She immediately rushed off to retrieve the mattress – only to discover the rubbish had already been collected.

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot published a picture of the distraught daughter searching through a landfill site, having already tried the three other dumps where rubbish from her neighbourhood could have been taken.

The dump manager, Yitzhak Borba, said that his staff were helping her because she appeared "totally desperate", but the task was complicated by 2,500 tons of new rubbish arriving every day.

The woman nobly said it could be worse: "People have to take everything in proportion and thank God for the good and the bad."

[Al-khiyal]

Israeli woman mistakenly junks $1 million mattress

June 10, 2009 -- An Israeli woman mistakenly threw out a mattress she said had almost $1 million inside, setting off a frantic search through tons of garbage at a number of landfill sites on Wednesday. The woman told The Associated Press that she bought her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise present on Monday — and threw out the old one.

The next day, she said, she remembered that she had hidden her life savings inside the old mattress. "I woke up in the morning screaming, when it hit me what happened," said the Tel Aviv woman, who asked not to be identified.

She went to look for the mattress, but it had already been hauled away by garbage collectors, she said. Searches at three different landfill sites turned up nothing.

She said the money was in U.S. dollars and Israeli shekels. She refused to say how she acquired such a large sum. "It was all my money in the world," she said. There was no way to verify her claims, and she refused to disclose key details.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said he was not familiar with the case and no report had been filed.

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot published a picture of the woman searching through garbage at a dump in southern Israel. The picture shows the woman, dressed in a white top and black pants with her back to the camera, picking through a huge pile of trash that fills the frame about 10 feet (3 meters) in all directions.

Yitzhak Borba, the dump manager, told Army Radio that his staff was helping the woman, saying she appeared "totally desperate." He said the mattress was hard to find among the 2,500 tons of garbage that arrives at the site every day.

He said he increased security at the site to keep would-be treasure hunters away.

The woman said the money had been stashed in a mattress because she had had "traumatic experiences with banks" in the past. She would not elaborate.

[amalgamate]

generous of her daughter to do that- but 1 million dollars!? stashed!!?

it's a good thing she didn't get a heart attack

[Bent_Bladi]

Israeli woman mistakenly junks $1 million mattress

that's right... see what it's like digging in the dumpster for once

[Al-khiyal]

Efeh, Israel, June 11, 2009:
Garbage men search in a landfill for a mattress
that reportedly contains $1 million
after an Israeli woman mistakenly threw it out

[Al-khiyal]

Elle voulait faire plaisir à sa mère :
Une femme jette un matelas contenant plus de 700 000 euros

Dimanche 14 Juin 2009 -- Une Israélienne qui voulait faire une surprise à sa vieille mère lui a offert un nouveau matelas et a jeté l’ancien... qui contenait l’équivalent de 714 319 euros en argent liquide, les économies d’une vie. Cette habitante de Tel-Aviv, qui a simplement donné son prénom, Anat, a expliqué à l’Associated Press s’être rendu compte de la bévue mardi, au lendemain de l’achat du nouveau matelas. Elle s’est alors souvenue qu’elle avait dissimulé toutes ses économies dans le vieux matelas. “Je me suis réveillée le matin en hurlant, quand j’ai compris ce qui arrivait”, dit-elle. Elle s’est précipitée à la décharge municipale, mais le matelas avait déjà été enlevé. Des recherches sur le site de trois autres dépotoirs n’ont rien donné. Le quotidien israélien Yediot Ahronot a publié une photo d’Anat fouillant parmi des tonnes de détritus dans une décharge du sud d’Israël. Yitzkah Borba, le directeur du site où arrivent chaque jour 2 500 tonnes d’ordures, a expliqué avoir mobilisé son personnel pour venir en aide à l’Israélienne, “totalement désespérée”.

[amalgamate]

Spongebob- The Lost Mattress