Boy’s Arm Severed in Clothes Dryer Accident

A 4-year-old boy’s left arm was severed above the elbow Sunday after he reached into a still-turning dryer at a Hollywood coin laundry, authorities said.

His arm “got snagged at the wrist” and the turning load of clothes “just twisted his arm off,” said Los Angeles city Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis.

Surgeons at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles worked Sunday night to reattach the still-unidentified child’s arm in an eight-to-10-hour operation, a hospital spokesman said. Hospital officials said they could not tell whether the attempts to restore the boy’s badly mangled arm would be successful.

It was not known how the boy opened the large, heavy-duty dryer or why it did not automatically shut down when the door was opened, Collis said.