A Nuevo León psychiatric patient had an unenviable adventure this week when he attempted to escape from a hospital via a sewage tunnel.

Gerardo ‘N’ escaped from a hospital in the Topo Chico neighborhood of Monterrey on Wednesday by throwing himself into an open drainage channel. Despite a missing hand and several toes, Gerardo made it roughly 7.5 kilometers along the tunnel before a resident heard him shouting for help, the newspaper Milenio reported.

Mario Contreras heard someone calling outside his home, but when he looked out into the street, he didn’t see anyone.

“I was asleep near the window when I heard a voice shouting, ‘Help!’” Contreras said. “I woke up, but I thought it was from the house across from mine. Then my wife and I saw that it was coming from the sewer.”

With the help of neighbors, Contreras removed the concrete drain cover and was shocked to find a man standing in the stinking water below.

He asked for food, so a neighbor made him meat and potato tacos.

“He looked tired and hungry, really messed up,” she said.

Local news sources reported that Gerardo suffered from symptoms of sewer gas poisoning, and said he was taken to a hospital for medical revision.

With reports from Milenio