A man who accidently sawed off one of his arms managed to drive 15 kilometres to hospital clutching his severed limb, Austrian police said on Sunday.

The 37-year-old Hungarian man sliced off his arm below the elbow.

He was able to retrieve the limb from the machinery that sliced it off and drove from Purbach in eastern Austria to the casualty department in nearby Eisenstadt.

Police say the only reason he did not bleed to death was because he was in shock.

The man was flown to a Vienna hospital, where doctors were working to re-attach the severed limb.

ABC/AFP