JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota man who lost a hand while making sausage says his left arm got caught in an electric meat mixer and he was forced to cut it off above the wrist with a butcher knife.

Sixty-nine-year-old Army veteran Myron Schlafman was injured Aug. 17 when he was taking a chunk of meat out of the mixer and accidentally stepped on a pedal to activate the machine.

Schlafman told KFGO radio the bone was severed, but he was still caught by muscle tissue, nerves and skin. He grabbed the knife and cut off the arm so he didn't bleed to death.

Schlafman credits two police officers with saving his life by applying a tourniquet before ambulance crews arrived. He'll be fitted with a prosthetic in a few months.

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Information from: KFGO-AM, http://www.kfgo.com