Denis Düttmann
dpa
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian military doctors have removed a live grenade from the head of a soldier.
During a patrol in Arauca, in the eastern part of the country, a soldier accidentally fired a grenade launcher, leaving a grenade embedded in his comrade’s head.
Transporting the victim by helicopter was too dangerous so the soldier was taken by ambulance to a military hospital in the capital Bogota, the newspaper El Tiempo reported Thursday. The journey lasted eight hours.
The doctors built an improvised operating theatre in the carpark due to the danger of the grenade exploding.
Surgeons pull live GRENADE out of soldier’s face in hospital car park in Colombia https://t.co/4nXzxM7LOm pic.twitter.com/kKpl0x83E6
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) June 9, 2016
The grenade was successfully removed.
“Five minutes were decisive,” said surgeon William Sánchez Maldonado. “If the grenade had exploded, there would have been a tragedy.”
The patient’s condition has been stable since the operation Sunday. Up to four more operations will be needed to rebuild the soldier’s face.
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©2016 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)