Hooked: Fishing accident leaves 14 year old boy with fishing dart in his head
Doctors at Manarat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima performed surgery to remove a fishing dart pierced in the head of a 14 year old Thai boy.
Locals in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Chakkarat district called a rescue team after discovering a 14 year old boy, Chayathorn, with a serious head injury. A fishing dart, measuring about 30 centimetres, pierced his forehead, leaving him in a precarious state as he awaited the arrival of the rescue team, his breaths laboured.
Chayathorn was taken to Chakkarat Hospital before being transferred to the more specialised Manarat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital. The doctor cut off part of the dart outside his head and sent the boy for a CT scan to plan an operation to remove the dart.
According to the doctor, the dart had penetrated deep into his brain. Surgery to remove part of the dart took place today. It went well and Chayathorn’s condition is stable. However, he had to remain under the doctor’s close supervision as the unclean dart posed a potential risk of complications.
The incident before the dart was fired has not yet been revealed. Rescuers thought Chayathorn might have gone fishing and accidentally shot himself with the dart. However, it was also possible that a companion, perhaps a friend, may have accidentally discharged the fishing dart.
This unfortunate incident is not a common one but there are previous cases. Last year, a Thai man found himself in a similar situation when he accidentally shot himself in the face with a harpoon while fishing in the eastern province of Rayong.
In 2019, another Thai man in the Isaan province of Sa Kaeo was urgently admitted to the hospital with a metre-long fishing dart lodged in his left eye. The cause of the accident and the man’s condition have not been made public.
