Hungarian Drives Himself To Hospital With Sawn-off Arm

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A 37-year-old man who sawed off one of his arms by accident below the elbow managed to drive 15 kilometres to a hospital in Austria clutching the severed limb, police said on Sunday.

The Hungarian man was cleaning a machine at a plant that processes construction rubble on Saturday when his right arm got caught in the equipment and was cut off. He somehow succeeded in fishing the arm out of the machinery that had sliced it off in Purbach in eastern Austria before getting in his car and speeding to the casualty department in nearby Eisenstadt.

Police said the only reason the Hungarian did not bleed to death was that he was in a state of shock.

“I guess it had to do with the state of shock he was in,” police spokesman Helmut Marban said. “Some people develop unimaginable strength when they are in shock.”

The worker was flown to a Vienna hospital, where surgeons reattached the forearm. It is too early to say if the operation was successful, broadcaster ORF said.