An 11-year-old boy had to have a 5cm-long stick removed from his scrotum after he was impaled when he fell from a tree.
The boy, from Makassar in Indonesia, was taken to hospital four hours after the gruesome accident.
Doctors said that the stick was just millimetres away from tearing through his testicles.
The boy was given heavy antibiotics as the sharp object was removed. He was also given a tetanus vaccine to prevent an infection from developing.
Photos shared online and X-rays showed how the stick pierced him before crashing into his pubic bone.
After the stick was removed a Penrose drain – a small pipe that removes excess fluid – was fed back into the wound.
Jonathan Glass, a consultant urological surgeon and member of the Royal College of Surgeons, told the MailOnline: “This young boy was fortunate in that the foreign body did not pierce any vital structures.
“Penetrating injury to the scrotum and perineum is fortunately rare. Life-changing injury could occur if the penetrating object were to pass through the urethra, the testis, or the penis.
“Other structures at risk, had the object passed within the abdomen would be the bladder, the small and large bowel, and [major arteries or veins].
“All of these injuries could have had life-long consequences for this patient.”
