Falling feline startles surgeons

ATHENS (DPA): Surgeons conducting an operation in an Athens hospital were shocked when a cat fell from the ceiling and landed on a patient on the operating table, Greek television said Wednesday.

It said the cat had found its way into one of the hospital's main air shafts and wandered through the system until it found an opening -- right above the patient in the operating theater.

Surgeons grabbed the frightened animal and were able to proceed with the operation. Hospital administrator Yiannis Papadopoulos said the building was undergoing major renovation, and it was impossible to monitor every nook and cranny where cats could get in.