A huge rescue operation: Saudi Arabian king sends aircraft to take obese man weighing 1,345 pounds to hospital
Part of Khalid Mohsin Shaeri's home had to be demolished to get him out
King Abdullah paid for a specially-made plane to take him to hospital
Mr Shaeri had not been out of his bedroom in more than two years
By Becky Evans
Published: 20:34 EST, 19 August 2013 | Updated: 06:17 EST, 20 August 2013
A Saudi Arabian man who officials say weighs 1,345 pounds has been fork-lifted out of his house on the orders of the king for treatment.
King Abdullah paid for a specially-equipped plane to take Khalid Mohsin Shaeri, who has become one of the heaviest people in the world, to hospital.
He has not been able to leave his bedroom in two and a half years and part of his home had to be demolished so he could be brought out from the second floor.
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Khalid Mohsin Shaeri was fork-lifted out of his house after King Abdullah paid for a specially-equipped plane to take him to hospital
Part of Mr Shaeri's home had to be demolished so he could be brought out from the second floor
Charitable: King Abdullah agreed to pay for Mr Shaeri's treatment to help save his life
The king asked for Mr Shaeri to be taken to hospital six months ago but treatment was delayed until a special bed could be made for him in the United States.
Saudi Arabia's health ministry worked with civil defence and the Saudi Red Cross to organise the patient's evacuation.
Reports in Saudi Arabia say Mr Shaeri weighs 1,345 pounds (610kg). If correct he is the second heaviest man ever recorded.
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Pictures of the operation show him sitting in bed while members of the civil defence lift it onto a forklift truck.
One officer even holds an umbrella to shield Mr Shaeri from the sun.
He was then transferred by ambulance to a local airport near his home in the southwestern town of Jizan.
The king asked for Mr Shaeri to be taken to hospital six months ago but treatment was delayed until a special bed could be made for him in the United States
Reports in Saudi Arabia say Mr Shaeri weighs 1,345 pounds (610kg). If correct he is the second heaviest man ever recorded
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health told CNN that Mr Shaeri is aged between 18 and 20 and will be treated with various dietary and physical programmes to help him lose weight.
No surgery has been scheduled so far.
From there he was flown on a specially-equipped plane to the King Fahd Medical City in the Saudi capital of Riyad, paid for by King Abdullah.
Mr Shaeri's cousin Naser Makke said he was relived he had finally been sent for treatment.
He said: 'We have been waiting for this moment for a long time, the King, may God protect him and give him the long life, had given his instructions to the ministry of health to do all the arrangements to transfer the patient for treatment in a safe way.'
Minister of Health Dr Abdullah Al-Rabeeah told the Saudi Gazette: 'It is really a humanitarian gesture from the King to order the transfer and treatment of the patient.
Pictures of the operation show him sitting in bed while members of the civil defence lift it onto a forklift truck
Mr Shaeri was transferred by ambulance to a local airport near his home before he was flown on a specially-equipped plane to the King Fahd Medical City in the Saudi capital of Riyad
'It is one of the King's traits that he always demonstrates whenever someone is in need.
'Once the ministry received the royal order it formed a medical team specialized in intensive care to work out the best plan to transfer the case to Riyadh and handle it as best as possible medically.'
Only one person has ever been known to weigh more than Mr Shaeri.
American Jon Brower Minnoch, who died in 1983, reached 1,400 pounds (635kg) - 55 pounds heavier than Mr Shaeri.
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