World's fattest man's picnic upset

When you weigh 800 pounds, you need a forklift and a tow truck to go for a Sunday picnic. Unfortunately for Monterrey's famous large man, Manuel Uribe, 42, his first such jaunt in five years was canceled by doctors after a freak accident en route to La Boca dam, a popular weekend destination near this northern Mexican city.

The sunshade on his specially reinforced bed, which was propped on a flatbed tow truck big enough for a bus, was knocked off by a low underpass, a steel beam narrowly missing Uribe's body.

Doctors checked his pulse, which was racing, and said his blood pressure fell. "He can't recover that easily from a scare like that," said Silvia Orozco, one of his doctors.

It was hard to tell who was the most disappointed. Uribe was celebrating two years on a special diet, which is said to have shaved off some 400 pounds. His girlfriend, Claudia Solís, was celebrating her 38th birthday.

The township of Santiago, where the dam is located, had a feast planned, in part to impress the half-dozen foreign TV crews that have been following Uribe's story since he first appeared on Mexican television some two years ago.

Uribe weighed 660 pounds about five years ago, said Gustavo Orozco, another of his doctors. An operation to remove about 150 pounds left him bedridden, and he eventually reached 1,230 pounds, Orozco said.