Officials break down wall of home in Wales to get obese teen to hospital

5/25/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Officials say emergency workers who needed to take an obese teenager from her home to a hospital in Wales had to break through a wall of the residence to get her out and into an ambulance.

The rescue on Thursday involved breaking through the wall on the second floor of the small house and using scaffolding as a ramp to lower the woman to the ground level, according to a statement by the local Rhondda Cynon Taf council.

The unidentified 19-year-old remained hospitalized Friday and her medical condition was not released.

Neighbors said her weight had risen as high as 380 kilos (835 pounds).

The U.K. has one of Europe's fattest populations: more than 60 percent of adults and one third of children aged 10-11 are overweight or obese, roughly similar to U.S. statistics.