Brazilian woman survives harpoon through her mouth

Brazilian woman survives harpoon through her mouth

RIO DE JANEIRO - A young Brazilian woman was accidentally shot in the mouth with a spear gun, with the projectile punching out the back of her neck but she survived, a doctor said.

Elisangela Borborema Rosa's husband was cleaning the underwater fishing device when it went off.

It punctured her pharynx, broke two teeth and poked through a vertebra at the top of her neck, said Marcelo Amaral, the plastic surgeon that operated on her for two hours.

She was taken to the Regional Hospital of Araruama in Rio de Janeiro state and underwent emergency surgery. Removing it was a delicate operation because of arteries in the area, he said.

Had it landed a bit further to the right or left she would be paralysed or dead, the doctor said. "We had to be very careful when we took it out because of the possibility of injury caused by the removal," said another doctor interviews by the Telegraph UK.

"You can say that she has come back from the dead," Amaral told Globo News television.

The woman is starting to take food and drink orally, but cannot yet speak. The husband is not suspected of attempted killer and police believe it was an accident.

Additional information by YourHealth, AsiaOne.

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