Fleeing pensioner gets stuck in hospital air vent

Hospitals aren’t always the happiest of places to spend time. Between the food, the quiet and all that ill health, many simply can’t wait to get out of the ward and back to their home.

One 82-year old Frenchman who was in hospital in the eastern city of Metz appears to have been affected more than most. The pensioner was found stuck in an air vent on Sunday, apparently trying to escape.

The pensioner, who had been in the Saint-Blandine hospital for diabetes-related problems, was sniffed out by a canine unit – stuck in a ventilation shaft, of all places.

The would-be fugitive appears to have attempted his escape on Saturday afternoon, after he was reported missing by hospital staff.

Around 20 police and emergency services personnel searched the institution, but were unable to locate the runaway granddad until Sunday, when he was discovered in an air conditioning vent, according to TF1 television.

The group managed to extract the octogenarian patient from the vent, and transferred him to the emergency room, where he remained on Monday morning, in a stable condition.

According to a statement from the management of Saint-Blandine hospital, this is not the first time the 82-year-old man has attempted to flee from their care.

“He’s a patient who seems to have the traits of a runaway, and in recent days he had already left the establishment without notifying staff,” the hospital’s management was reported as saying by TF1.