/ 11 January 2006

Firefighters use forklift to move obese woman

Budapest firefighters had to remove a window and a large section of wall, and use a forklift to extract a grossly overweight woman from her home, MTI news agency reported.

Firefighters spent five hours dismantling the home of the middle-aged woman, who weighs in at between 200kg and 300kg, before they could create a hole large enough for her, a spokesperson for the fire brigade told MTI.

They then strapped a hospital bed to the forks of the truck and raised it to the window. Thirteen firefighters were necessary to roll the woman on to the bed.

The firefighters accompanied the woman to hospital to help transfer her to a ward where she will take part in a weight-loss programme. — Sapa-dpa