PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC) — Police today confirmed that a homeless man who had been sleeping at a landfill was killed after he was crushed by a bulldozer over the weekend.

“It was a gruesome sight to see pieces of him scattered all over the place,” said one eyewitness.

Police said 39-year-old Alfred Bongsodipo was one of many homeless people who lived on the garbage dump near Houttuin in southern Paramaribo, scavenging for scrap metal and other discarded material they could reuse or resell.

They believe he met his death after apparently spending Friday night in a box on the dump in order to obtain a strategic spot when garbage trucks arrived in the morning. Unfortunately the first vehicle to drive onto the dump was a bulldozer.

The driver of the bulldozer only became aware of the accident when another homeless person, an unidentified woman who was sleeping on a bench nearby, was awakened by the roar of the engine and went in search of Alfred.