KEY POINTS

  • 16-year-old Indonesian boy was speared through the neck by a needlefish on Saturday
  • The fish was surgically removed from his neck
  • The boy is in stable condition and is monitored for infection

A 16-year-old Indonesian fisherman was surgically treated when a flying needlefish speared his neck during a fishing trip on Saturday.

Muhammad Idul was out fishing with his parents in Buton off the South East Sulawesi province when a needlefish flew out of the water.

The Sun

reported that the local media said that needlefish jumped out of the water, speared the boy’s neck and knocked him off his boat.

The teenager managed to swim to the surface and walked home with the needlefish and its snout still impaled to his neck.

According to the Daily Mail, the fish’s sharp snout sliced through Idul’s neck under his chin and the back of his skull.

Idul was immediately taken to a hospital in the city of Baubau but the staff reportedly refused to remove the fish from the boy’s neck as that would require specialist equipment.

On Monday, Idul was transferred to a hospital in the city of Makassar where he underwent a two-hour long surgical operation which involved three surgeons and two anesthetists to remove the fish.

“To remove the fish snout, one must be very careful because there is a large vessel in the neck,” Anesthetist Dr. Syafri K. Arif told a local news site, Makassar Terkin.

Idul was reported to be in stable condition post-operation and would remain in the hospital for three to four days to monitor any signs of infection.

According to The Sun, needlefish swim near the surface of the water and can make short leaps out of the water at up to 40 mph.

Furthermore, fishermen rate needlefish to be more dangerous than sharks due to their tendency to jump over boats than swim around them and there have been recorded deaths caused by needlefish.

One of the early recorded cases was in 1977 when a 10-year-old Hawaiian boy died during a fishing trip with his father when a needlefish stabbed its snout right through his eye and another case in 2013 when a Saudi man bled to death after a needlefish pierced him through the side of his neck.

The most recent recorded death was in 2018, when 22-year-old Thai Navy cadet Kriangsak Pengpanich was speared by a needlefish during a training exercise.

Over the past year, growing numbers of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia have taken to the treacherous waters of the Channel in small fishing boats or inflatable dinghies
Over the past year, growing numbers of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia have taken to the treacherous waters of the Channel in small fishing boats or inflatable dinghies SNSM Dunkerque / Handout