diff --git a/channels/telegram/src/main.rs b/channels/telegram/src/main.rs
index 837a044..ec7aa66 100644
--- a/channels/telegram/src/main.rs
+++ b/channels/telegram/src/main.rs
@@ -221,7 +221,15 @@ async fn get_updates(
                     error!("telegram photo: missing file_id in update {update_id}");
                     (caption, None)
                 } else {
-                    match download_telegram_file(client, token, file_id).await {
+                    // Bound the download — HttpClient::request_timeout only covers
+                    // send_request, not body collect, so an indefinitely-slow body
+                    // would otherwise stall every subsequent poll.
+                    let dl = tokio::time::timeout(
+                        std::time::Duration::from_secs(60),
+                        download_telegram_file(client, token, file_id),
+                    ).await
+                        .unwrap_or_else(|_| Err("download timed out after 60s".into()));
+                    match dl {
                         Ok(path) => (caption, Some(path)),
                         Err(e) => {
                             error!("telegram photo download failed (file_id={file_id}): {e}");