A man came extremely close to death on Tuesday after an incredibly gory freak accident saw him harpooned in the face during a fishing trip in Brazil, the New York Post has reported.
The 27-year-old - who has been identified in local television reports as Hugo Periera da Silva - was accompanied by a friend on the fishing trip at the Rio Paranaiba dam in Araguari.
It was there that the three-foot spear punctured his face, according to Diaro de Pernambuco.
This certainly isn't the first near-fatal fishing trip to have occurred. One fisherman came across a 30-foot shark swimming near his boat:"Unfortunately, they were not careful with the positioning, the distance," Araguari fire department Deputy Lt. Lucenildo Batista Alves told the Post. "And the waters of the river in our region are murky, especially in the very dirty rainy season."
The harpoon - which was mere inches away from inflicting potentially fatal injuries - was removed and the man was discharged from hospital the following day.
An image of the injury is below, but some people may find the photo upsetting:Alves explained that it is still unknown how exactly the man was struck, or whether his friend - who was fishing on the opposite side of the dam - had launched the spear.
People survive traumatic incidents every day. This boy miraculously survived a 40-foot plunge from a rooftop after landing on a friend:Authorities are currently investigating the incident, as it is illegal to use harpoons on fishing trips from November through February.
"We do not know if the friend saw any fish or if the gun fired alone, but it hit the face of this boy," Alves told PescaAmadora.com, according to a translation of the page. "He was very lucky, as the harpoon crossed the soft part of the mouth, did not reach any bone or more sensitive part, such as the brain. It could have been fatal."
