Doctors treating a man trapped for more than a month in a snow-bound car are putting his survival down to an 'igloo-effect'.
Peter Skyllberg, 44, was found on Friday by a passer-by in a snow-scooter near the northern town of Umea. He had been snowed into his car since December or even November.
"It's not possible for humans to hibernate like a bear does," Dr Ulf Segerberg, the Chief Medical Officer at Norrland University Hospital.
"If you cool the body, of course the metabolism slows down, but I don't think he would have survived if that had happened."
He said that the air trapped around the man's car had probably instead formed a natural igloo. "In the car he had very warm clothes, he had a warm sleeping bag, and as the car was snowed under, that would have made it more like an igloo, and down below the snow you would normally have a temperature of around zero," he said.
Yesterday, Dr. Stefan Branth, a doctor at Uppsala University told news agencies that he believed the man's metabolism may have slowed down "like a bear that hibernates".
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported on Sunday that the man had been struggling to pay off debts of 1.6m Swedish Kronor (£150,000), pushing a debt tribunal late last year to ruled that his rental properties be seized.
"He had a girlfriend but she ran out. And then he also had problems paying bills and the rent," a person familiar with the man told the newspaper.
With the surrounding temperature only marginally below zero, Dr Segerberg said the greatest risk to the man's health had been starvation.
"Starvation for one month, anyone can tolerate that if they have water to drink," he said. "If you have body fat, you will survive even longer, although you end up looking like someone coming from a concentration camp."
He estimated that the man would have lost between 15 kg and 20 kg of his body weight over the period.
The man, who has yet to be named, has been moved to an ordinary ward where he is conversing with nurses and other patients. He is likely to be released within a few days.
"This is a case in a lifetime," said Segerberg. "Every winter we have people who have frozen to death, but a case like this with someone caught outside for so long time, is very rare, because it's very rare that you are not missed by anyone, which seems to be the case in this instance."
"He had a girlfriend but she ran out. And then he also had problems paying bills and the rent," a person familiar with the man told the newspaper.
With the surrounding temperature only marginally below zero, Dr Segerberg said the greatest risk to the man's health had been starvation.
"Starvation for one month, anyone can tolerate that if they have water to drink," he said. "If you have body fat, you will survive even longer, although you end up looking like someone coming from a concentration camp."
He estimated that the man would have lost between 15 kg and 20 kg of his body weight over the period.
The man, who has yet to be named, has been moved to an ordinary ward where he is conversing with nurses and other patients. He is likely to be released within a few days.
"This is a case in a lifetime," said Segerberg. "Every winter we have people who have frozen to death, but a case like this with someone caught outside for so long time, is very rare, because it's very rare that you are not missed by anyone, which seems to be the case in this instance."
