BERLIN (AP) — Berlin authorities say emergency crews got a shock when they responded to a call from a taxi driver asking for help for a bleeding passenger and arrived to find the man was missing a hand.

Police said Friday that the first responders rushed the man, whose name wasn't released, to the hospital late Thursday night for treatment for "massive bleeding" from the open wound.

Police were then called in and launched a search for the missing hand — which was neither in the taxi nor in the ambulance.

Eventually they were able to track it down in a public trash can.

Police say they've got lots of questions that "only the injured person will be able to answer" but for now he's still in intensive care and can't be interviewed.