* WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT *

The weight in which the man put his penis (CEN)

Pictures of a German gym fanatic who got his penis stuck through the hole in a dumbbell have been leaked online – prompting a hospital investigation.

The leaked picture shows how the man got his private parts stuck in the weight, leaving his penis purple and swollen.

After the incident, the unnamed weightlifter went to the hospital in the town of Worms, in the western

German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, with the intimate health problem.

Medics had to call in the fire brigade, who spent hours using specialist equipment to free him. Firefighters apparently used a grinder and vibrating saw to remove the weight.

It took three hours to remove the man – and his penis – from his predicament.

The hospital treated the man but the troubles didn’t end there.

The pictures taken in the course of his treatment were subsequently found to have been sent out on the internet.

As well as a snap showing the man’s sensitive parts, another image revealed the the 2.5 kilogramme (5 pound eight ounce) gym weight after being shattered to free it from the weightlifter’s appendage.

Ouch – the man stuck in the dumbbell (CEN)

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The images were meant to be for official use only but have now ended all over social media.

It was allegedly put online following a “data leak” and the hospital have now organised an investigation to find out what went wrong.

A spokesman for the fire brigade said: ‘How delicate some of our firefighters can be was shown when we called in support of the hospital.

‘One person had a very sensitive body part wedged in the hole of a 2.5 kg dumbbell disc.

‘The dumbbell weight could be removed after three hours with the help of a grinder, a vibration saw and a hydraulic rescue device.’

Dumbbells and barbells often come with plates or disks on varying weights, allowing the user to adjust the load.

It is not known what the man was doing in order to get his penis trapped inside the plate in this way.