The 49-year-old man's right hand and arm were reportedly dragged into the press as he was feeding a job into the machine.

Doctors were forced to amputate at the scene, before transferring the man to Royal Oldham Hospital to undergo further surgery, after firefighters were unable to free the man.

According to reports in the Oldham Evening Chronicle, whose chief electrician Alun Whitehead was called to the scene to advise firefighters, the man remained conscious throughout the ordeal although he was sedated.

Whitehead, who has experience of dealing with printing presses from the Chronicle's Union Street site, informed the firefighters that the only way to free the man would be to strip the press from the top down.

Whitehead told the Chronicle: "If they had pulled it down mechanically it would have taken far too long in that situation to get him out. They wouldn’t have had the time.

"These machines don’t take prisoners. I saw him and I saw his hand and he didn’t look well and you could hear him."

It is understood that the Health and Safety Executive is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.