A bizarre training course has been launched for firefighters in Germany to teach them how to tackle emergencies involving penises and backsides.
The course is a response to the increase in the number of delicate emergency calls where men have damaged or trapped their penises or lodged objects in their bottoms during kinky sexual stunts.
Images from the seminar for 600 firefighters held in Dresden in the eastern Germany's state of Saxony show trainees surrounding a prone firefighter with a lifelike dildo emerging through a heat shield blanket.
On this occasion, a penis ring is trapped on the shaft.
The seminar - titled "Maschinenunfaelle" ("Mechanical Failures") - showed attendees how to remove the ring and other objects without harming the victim.
Instructor Eric Forberg, 39, explained: "Sensitivity and delicate work counts."
First, the member is bandaged to prevent injuries from flying sparks and then a paste-able to absorb up to 4000 degrees Celsius - is spread on the penis ring to prevent burns.
A spatula is then inserted between the member and the ring before it can be cut off with a grinder.
The delicate procedure should take less than 15 minutes, say experts.
Penis rings - said to improve sexual staying power - are among a growing number of baffling sex injuries firefighters are now called out to, explained Forberg.
Local rescuers have been called to free crochet needles stuck in a urethra, a penis trapped in a bottleneck and were called in to deal with an apple inserted up a man's backside.
One weightlifter in Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate state, spent three hours having his penis removed from the central hole of an iron weight.
The 2.5Kg weight had to be shattered using a grinder and then cut up with a vibrating saw.
Forberg explained: "Last time, we had a man who couldn't get his finger out of a bowling ball. In another case, we had to remove a penis ring in a hospital."
But despite the bizarre nature of the course, firefighters say it is no laughing matter.
One 36-year-old trainee, Matthias Lehnigk, said: "The training is not fun for us, but rather requires the utmost concentration. The patient is in enough pain, after all."
- Australscope