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A man who was found staggering on the A66 after his penis was chopped off was placed in an induced coma.

The 40-year-old victim, who has not been named, was seen by a passing motorist wandering in the darkness by the roadside apparently looking for his severed appendage.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested and bailed on suspicion of assault in connection with the incident in the South Bank area .

Cleveland Police was called at 4.50am to a report of concern for man who was seen on the A66 dual carriageway in a distressed state .

The man, from South Bank, was found to have serious injuries to his genitals and was taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he had surgery.

He remained in an induced coma yesterday.

Despite a police search at the scene , it is not clear whether the missing organ has been found.

The injured man was from a travellers’ site close to the A66 on John Boyle Road, in an industrial estate.

A police van remained on guard at the entrance to the privately owned site yesterday.

A police car was parked inside the camp, close to an area cordoned off by police tape.

Police stopped vehicles at the Grangetown roundabout letting trucks through to access Teesport and diverting cars.

The incident led to the closure of the A66 westbound from Greystones Roundabout to Church Lane.

The busy route was cordoned off by police from South Bank, near Asda supermarket, to the Grangetown roundabout heading towards Middlesbrough.

Each junction between the two points on the A66 had police cars or vans parked to cordon the road and police tape sectioned off an area at the South Bank end of the stretch of road.

Several police officers were seen combing the grass verge alongside the A66, just past Asda supermarket in South Bank.

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A worker at the Asda store nearby told how the victim was seen “staggering” at the roadside covered in blood.

The staff member added: “A customer came in and said a man was covered in blood and was staggering along the carriageway.

“It’s horrifying to think of anyone being mutilated like that. Soon after it was reported, police cars started heading towards a gipsy site just off the dual carriageway.

“They’ve only just moved there after being moved on from their last one on the edge of the town.”

A caravan - said to have been heavily bloodstained - was cordoned off and a police car stood outside it.

A member of the travelling community on the site said: “We don’t know how he is doing; most people here don’t know what happened and we don’t talk about other people’s business.”

A 23-year-old construction worker from South Bank witnessed the scene soon after the injured man was discovered.

He said: “I was trying to get to work but the road was closed off and I could see police officers looking for something.

“They were looking at the ground and I thought they might be trying to find a weapon someone had thrown away.

“But people are now saying the victim had his penis cut off and I’m now wondering if that’s what they were looking for.

“It’s sickening and doesn’t bear thinking about.”

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A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “Police can confirm that the man found this morning on the A66 had wounds to his groin area. The road closures were required as part of the investigation into how the man received his injuries.

“This is necessary so that officers can look for anything which may shed light on how he became injured or his direction of travel.

“If the road was not closed any evidence could be lost or destroyed.

“Investigations are at a very early stage.”

The injured man has been unable to speak to cops in any detail about how his nightmare injuries came about.

“He was in a terrible state when he was found,” said a source.

“It was necessary to close the road for a period as a search began for his missing organ.

“He was in such distress that it was proving a struggle to find out exactly how the injury happened.”

The incident mirrors the infamous case of American John Wayne Bobbit.

He had part of his penis severed in 1993, his wife Lorena having cut it off with a penknife.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to contact them on the non-emergency number 101.