300 kg man is rescued from home by crane in France...

The delicate and risky operation required the destruction of part of the facade of Alain Panabière’s two-story house, located in a neighborhood with narrow streets.

The 53-year-old man was transported horizontally in a large white container, suspended by a crane, and then placed in a special ambulance, said the prefecture of the Department of the Pyrenees Orientales.

A 300 kg man was rescued from his own home with a container suspended by a crane – Photo: AFP / Raymond Roig

More than 50 people have been mobilized since the morning, including police, firefighters and medical staff, but also city and department officials.

“In order not to be at risk, the neighbors were invited to temporarily leave their homes during the operation,” said the city.

Panabière was taken to a hospital in Montpellier for a “global assessment” of his health, before being transferred in a few weeks to a rehabilitation center, according to the head of the department of endocrinology and diabetes, Antoine Avignon.

“When we move an immobilized person for two to five years, there is a risk of circulatory decompensation, of thrombosis. It is a cardiovascular system that is at rest for a long time that is reactivated,” said the doctor.

Prisoner at home for years and immobilized on the floor for more than a year “after probably breaking a leg,” according to his lawyer Jean Codognès, Panabière was fed by his brother, but his health was rapidly deteriorating.

After months of negotiations between his family, his lawyer and the authorities, a solution was found and the operation was prepared and coordinated by the services of the State, the department and the city hall.

Codognès sent a letter to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin in late October to ask for urgent intervention. A few days later, her client and the National League against Obesity filed a complaint for “failure to assist a person in danger”.