Elderly man’s hand chopped off

An elderly man’s hand was cut off in a dramatic accident yesterday (Thurs).The resident of Kematen an der Krems in Upper Austria was splitting blocks of wood when his left hand was hacked off at the wrist. Local police said today it was unclear how exactly the accident happened, adding that the 82-year-old had many years of woodwork experience.The pensioner, who was preparing firewood, was airlifted to the Emergency Clinic of Linz after his wife discovered him lying in a pool of blood. A hospital official said today, surgeons failed to reattach the cut-off part of his hand in a surgery carried out yesterday evening.The accident happened around three weeks after a Viennese pensioner, 80, was hit by a falling tree. The hobby gardener was seriously injured when the spruce landed on him after he cut it down. The man presumably estimated incorrectly where the tree would land, police explained.