A veteran of more than 20 years at Escalon Packing Company on McHenry Avenue in Escalon lost both arms Thursday afternoon in a bilateral amputation while reportedly working on peeling machinery inside the plant during a cleanup operation.

Believed to be in his early 60s the man was reportedly stuck above the equipment some 25 feet in the air where ambulance medics and firefighters used a sack-like retrieval assembly to carry him down the metal stairway.

An air ambulance helicopter was dispatched to the scene but Escalon Ambulance, apparently for the sake of time, transported the injured worker to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto where his condition is unknown.