FARMINGTON, N.Y. — Surgeons almost had to amputate the arm of New York man to free him from the grip of a garbage truck compactor.

The 49-year-old Geneva man was trapped for three hours Friday when his arm became wedged in the compactor’s steel jaws.

For a time, things looked so grim that two trauma surgeons and an anesthesiologist were flown to the accident scene in Farmington for a possible amputation.

Rescuers were finally able to free the man using cutting torches.

The victim was being treated at a hospital in Rochester.