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Photo: Scott Perry

Woman knee-deep in toilet drain for hours after fall

Published: 26 May 09 11:01 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090526-19511.html

A 34-year-old woman is home safe after spending three hours with her leg stuck in a public squat toilet drain pipe, Baden-Württemberg police told The Local on Tuesday.

The distraught woman used her mobile phone to alert Offenburg police on Monday that she had lost her balance and slipped in the ladies’ room, landing with her leg knee-deep in the floor drain and unable to move.

“This is the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing happening,” police spokesman Gerold Müller told The Local. “It was a pretty spectacular incident.”

Twelve volunteer fire fighters with three vehicles and police tried several unsuccessful strategies to free the woman’s leg from the floor-level basin until they finally had to tear the bathroom floor out and cut the pipe open with large metal shears.

“The question isn’t how creative the officers had to be, but how creative you have to be to get yourself into that situation in the first place,” Müller mused.

Fire fighters administered a local anaesthetic to the woman’s leg during the rescue operation.

“With every tiny movement the woman screamed with pain,” police said in a statement.

The woman was transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor cuts and bruises.

Kristen Allen (kristen.allen@thelocal.de)

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