Robbed, beaten and cast aside under a manhole, a trans woman was involved in a vicious attack in Italy. (Stock photo via UnSplash)

As security staff walked through a street in Naples, Italy, they heard strange sounds coming from underneath a manhole. But after lifting up the cast iron cover, they found a trans woman, bloodied and bruised, moaning in agony.

The victim of an alleged ambush, the woman was hospitalised after being beaten last Sunday morning. Her nasal septum was fractured and numerous injuries recorded across her body and face.

Security around the Centro Direzionale, a service center in the Poggioreale neighbourhood, found the woman, who appeared to be a sex worker, locked inside the drainage system, local media reported.

She claimed that three men had lured her into the area before jumping on her, taking her money and beating her.

Trans woman robbed, beaten and locked inside the sewer.

The victim explained to investigators that she was approached by a man pretending to be a client who wanted to take her up to his apartment at around 8am.

But after agreeing and walking towards his alleged place, she was ambushed by three men, she said, who then pummelled her with a deluge of punches and kicks.

They demanded she hand over her wallet and any money on her persons as they continued to brutally beat her.

She was later locked under a manhole in a pedestrian area, her groans overheard by local security officers.

Medics were immediately called to the scene and she was taken to the Hospital Antonio Cardarelli.

She was in found a state of shock, medics said, who plan to keep her under observation for several days.

However, she claimed that the attack was not transphobic in motivation and was purely a robbery.

Local law enforcement are combing the area and have tapped into surveillance footage to identify the men.

The incident comes just weeks after a hotel worker was assaulted and spot on in a vile homophobic attack.