Firefighters had to use a crane to remove a 47stone man from his flat and take him to hospital.
José María Fernández became bedridden six months ago after ballooning in size
Before the evacuation, he hadn’t left his flat in over a year.
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The fire brigade went to his home to assemble the structures needed to get him out.
Firefighters successfully removed Fernández, 49, from his flat in San Fernando, south of Seville, Spain, yesterday (18 Jul) morning.
The crane had to be used to winch a special, plus-size stretcher up to his balcony.
He was then secured onto it and carefully lowered down to the street below.
An ambulance then took him to hospital in nearby Cádiz, which has adapted a room for him.
There, he will undergo surgery and obesity treatment.
The operation to evacuate Fernández lasted more than two hours, according to the fire brigade.
In total, 17 volunteer firefighters took part in the complex operation, as reported on Need To Know.
The Cádiz Fire Consortium said: “The setup for moving him from his bed to the window, then to another room, and finally to the terrace is a testament to creativity and safety.
“It involved ramps and staging made from materials borrowed from a show production company, and involved sliding him onto the stretcher.
“The exterior lift, suspended by a pulley system, came from Madrid.
“The sliding tarps/mattresses were from Málaga.
“And the ambulance, specifically designed for transporting people with morbid obesity, was from Algeciras.”
Fernández has been struggling with obesity for years and has been on dependency benefits since 2019.
Depression worsened his condition in 2023, but he remains optimistic about his future.
He said: “I know I’m going to leave the hospital walking and much slimmer.
“That’s the goal, and that’s what I’m going to achieve. I won’t stop until I do.”
