London: A British man who had his head ripped off from his spine in a car crash has survived, a media report said on Sunday.

Indian-origin neuro-surgeon Anant Kamat re-attached Tony Cowan's skull to his spine with a metal plate and bolts in a rare operation. Now, Cowan hopes to go home soon, Mirror online reported.

Tony Cowan from Newcastle city met with an accident on 9 September last year, when his car hit a speed-bump, spun out of control and wrapped around a telephone pole.

His heart stopped and he had to be resuscitated by paramedics at the scene before being rushed to a hospital. Cowan sustained a fracture in his neck and complete spinal cord injury -- an injury medics describe as almost ‘unsurvivable’.

He was not brain-damaged even though his head was snapped off from his spine and it was only being held in place by tissue and muscle at the time of crash.