2 workers hurt when fire breaks out in sanitation truck in Midtown

MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- Two trash collectors suffered minor injuries when a fire broke out in the back of their garbage truck in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday afternoon.

It happened on 45th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues at about 4:15 p.m.

Witnesses say the men were loading discarded copy machines along with other trash into the back of their truck when the fire broke out.

It is believed that the truck's crushing mechanism somehow caused chemicals inside the copy machines to catch fire.

The fire was quickly extinguished. The injured men work for an independent company, not DSNY.

Drivers were diverted around the area as workers cleared the scene.

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