MONTREAL - A Plateau resident is recovering in hospital after falling off his balcony and being impaled on a fence.

The gruesome incident happened at 1 a.m. Friday morning at 1660 Marie-Anne St. not too far from Papineau Ave.

Initial reports said the man was walking up a outdoor staircase, but Montreal Fire Department Operations Chief Benoit Brouillard says the man was on his balcony when he fell.

The 32-year-old man's descent to the ground was stopped when a metal fencepost speared him in the calf.

It took firefighters 45 minutes to cut the fencepost, then take him to hospital to undergo surgery.