Asian News International
PETROPOLIS, Brazil — A Brazilian man miraculously survived after accidentally shooting a 12-inch fishing spear into his face, while cleaning his gun.
The miserable mishap occurred on Sunday night when the fisherman, Bruno Barcellos deSouza Coutinho, was cleaning his spear gun in Petropolis, a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the New York Daily News reported.
According to Portuguese language news site O Correio News, the spear, which hit the corner of the 34-year-old’s left eye, broke through his skull, travelled six inches into his head and lodged itself deep into his brain for more than 10 hours.
De Souza Coutinho, who arrived at Hospital Santa Teresa entirely lucid, after his aunt contacted the local fire department, did not suffer any brain damage.
The fisherman underwent emergency facial and neurosurgery that lasted four hours, on Monday.
The spear was inexplicably removed with minimal neurological damage.
The following day, ophthalmologists successfully reconstructed and preserved his left eyeball but his vision in that eye was lost.
He is still in the hospital’s intensive care unit but is not at risk of death.
