More than 20 firefighters rescue U.S. student trapped inside giant vagina sculpture in Germany

In the space of 24 hours last week, southern Germany witnessed two spectacular rescue operations.

Both involved men who had become trapped deep inside cave-like structures, and a large rescue team working together to set them free. But if explorer Johann Westhauser is expected to soon tell the world how he got trapped inside Germany's deepest cave, an anonymous exchange student may prefer to keep quiet about the story of how he got into a tight spot.

On Friday afternoon, a young American in Tübingen had to be rescued by 22 firefighters after getting trapped inside a giant sculpture of a vagina. The Chacán-Pi (Making Love) artwork by the Peruvian artist Fernando de la Jara has been located outside Tübingen University's institute for microbiology and virology since 2001 and had previously mainly attracted juvenile sniggers rather than adventurous explorers.

According to De la Jara, the 32-ton sculpture made out of red Veronese marble is meant to signify "the gateway to the world".

Police confirmed that the firefighters-turned-midwives delivered the student "by hand and without the application of tools".

The mayor of Tübingen told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that he struggled to imagine how the accident could have happened, "even when considering the most extreme adolescent fantasies. To reward such a masterly achievement with the use of 22 firefighters almost pains my soul."

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[Image via Erick Guzman]