Surgeons remove five metre rod from man's face

The rod had penetrated almost five inches into his body and was only one centimetre away from the spinal cord, sources at KIMS hospital said.

The patient would have gone into coma or turned paralytic if the rod had touched the spinal cord, they said.

The incident occurred on May 16 when a branch, which was being cut, fell on a pile of rods at ground floor. Under the impact, a rod flew up piercing the left cheek of the man standing on the second floor, they said.

A one-hour surgery was done on the patient by a team of neuro, orthopaedic and general surgeons to remove the rod.

The man is recovering, they said.