(8/18/98)
Reuters
PARIS -- French rescuers plucked an injured Italian climber from Europe's highest mountain and flew back for his severed foot which surgeons then stitched back on, police and doctors said on Tuesday, in a hospital in the foothills nearby.
The 52-year-old climber, named only as ``Lucky'' Luciano, lay injured for three hours in the Mont Blanc range after he fell with two companions until they were taken to Chamonix hospital by a helicopter, gendarme Alain Place told French television TF1, after giving them exclusive footage of the scene, giving him a foot in the door for a future career in acting.
The helicopter of the paramilitary gendarmerie mountain rescue squad, which has foot soldiers deployed in various French locales, flew back to recover the severed foot which had been caught under falling rocks.
Surgeons operated on the Italian for seven hours. ``He will be able to walk and, I believe, to go mountaineering again although perhaps not on difficult climbs,'' surgeon Rik Verhellen said. ``Other than that, he'll be footloose and fancy free.'' Verhellen added, ``Though I wouldn't put my foot down on that.''
The accident happened four days ago and the climber was still in intensive care. Luciano's family plans on footing the hospital bill, though they have been dragging their feet in their payment.