LOUTH, England – Graphic photos show a large spring protruding from the back of a 12-year-old boy who dodged life-threatening injuries in a freak accident in the English town of Louth.
Jamie Quinlan was bouncing on a trampoline with friends Saturday when the heavy coil snapped off the frame and flew “like a bullet” into the boy’s torso, his father told the Independent.
Warning: There is a graphic image at the bottom of this story.
Jamie said the feeling was just “very strange” at first, and then quickly became painful, the BBC reports.
“It must be rarer than a lightning strike” Jamie said. “I was lucky that the hook actually broke off or it could’ve been a lot worse.”
He was rushed first to Louth Hospital for X-rays and medication, then to Sheffield Children’s Hospital where doctors removed the spring, according to the Louth Leader.
“It could’ve been his neck or his head so we were very, very lucky,” his father Ian said.
The accident happened after Jamie suggested to his friends that they all jump on the trampoline at once, the boy told the BBC.
“Children are the most important things in our lives, so people need to be aware of the dangers in their own back garden,” Ian Quinlan said.