Two garbage truck workers hailed as heroes after rescuing man

Two Florida Waste Management workers are being hailed as heroes after saving an 83-year-old man who had been stuck under a golf cart for seven hours overnight.

Alex Galarza and Paulino Ortego rescued the elderly man behind the Riverwood Golf Course where they had been picking up garbage at half past five in the morning.

Galarza and Ortego told ABC 7 that they found the man, who chose to hide his identity, trapped underneath his golf cart in the early hours of the morning and it had been 'quite chilly' at the time.

'We just completed one of the streets,' Ortega and Galarza said.

'We had just picked up the garbage in that street and we were moving on to the next one, which was 'Long Lake Lane.'

Two Florida Waste Management workers are being hailed as heroes after saving an 83-year-old man who had been stuck under a golf cart for seven hours overnight

It was Ortega, who had been driving at the time, who first noticed the struggling senior.

'Paulino (the driver) noticed someone waving at him and saw that there was an older gentleman that was on the ground waving at us,' Galarza said.

'We stopped the vehicle and he honked to get my attention. He said, 'Alex, there is someone waving at us over there.'

The pair quickly went to the man's aid asking him whether he needed their help.

'Sir, do you need any help from us,' [is what we said to him, to which he replied] 'Yes, can you pull me out?' So Paulino and I pulled him out of there and asked if he was comfortable, then he asked for us to sit him up, so he could relax, [and went on to say] 'I'm very cold,' Galarza said.

The pair then proceeded to call 911 and tried to find blankets to cover him.

'I said, well, how long ago did you fall? He said 10 last night,' Galarza said.

Alex Galarza and Paulino Ortego rescued the elderly man behind the Riverwood Golf Course where they had been picking up garbage at half past five in the morning

Galarza and Ortego said the man, who asked to remain nameless, had been 'very cold' when they found him. The pair immediately called 911 and tried to find blankets to cover him 

'Oh my goodness, did nobody in your neighborhood see you?' He said no.'

For over five hours, the was pinned down by his golf cart, and it was not until Galarza and Ortega's Waste Management truck pulled up around the corner that he was rescued.

'It makes me feel really good, but like I said, what would make me feel good is knowing anyone else would have done the same thing,' said Galarza.

The man who wished to have his identity remain hidden told the broadcaster that he is home from the hospital, and he is doing well.