ORLAND PARK, Ill., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Illinois firefighters were called to a grocery store where a clerk's had become lodged in a meat grinder.

Firefighters from Orland Park, Ill., 30 miles south of Chicago, were called Thursday when the clerk's hand was stuck in the machine. Firefighters disassembled the machine as best they could and took the man to a nearby hospital. Once there, they cut through the metal and doctors took over to stanch the bleeding, the Chicago Tribune reported.


"We knew once we removed his hand, the bleeding would increase significantly," Orland Fire Protection District Chief Ken Brucki said. "Once we disassembled it, we would be able to control the bleeding a little more effectively (at the hospital) than in the back of the ambulance."

Brucki said the man was assured of losing all of his fingers, if not his entire hand, as a result of the accident.