Bulgarian doctors tested a man's blood-alcohol level five times before accepting it was 0.914 â nearly twice the amount considered to be life-threatening.

The 67-year-old man landed in hospital on Dec. 20 after a car knocked him off his feet in the southern Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, police and doctors said Tuesday.

A breath test indicated blood-alcohol levels so high that police thought their equipment was broken, because the man remained conscious and talked with them.

The head of Plovdiv police, Col. Angel Rangelov, said five separate lab tests taken the same day confirmed the man's blood-alcohol level of 0.914.

A blood-alcohol level of 0.55 is considered potentially fatal.

In comparison, the Bulgarian man's level was more than 11 times higher than the legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers in Canada, which is 0.08.

The man, who has not been identified, was reported to be in stable condition after being treated for head injuries.