A 12-year-old schoolboy has been hospitalised and is said to be extremely lucky after a freak accident during a PE class that saw him impaled with a javelin.
The unidentified boy, a student at the prestigious Saint Stephen’s College in Coomera on the Gold Coast, was participating in an outdoor PE class on the school’s oval at around 10:25am this morning. Reports suggest that the boy tripped on a javelin that was embedded in the ground, and subsequently fell on top of it. The javelin is said to have then pierced the boy’s groin.
Emergency crews attending the scene removed the ends of the javelin, however part of it remained embedded in the boy’s body as he was transported to hospital. He was in a stable condition.
Queensland Ambulance officials confirmed the incident, telling media that “Shortly before 11 o’clock, Queensland Ambulance Service received triple-0 calls and responded to a 12-year-old male with a penetrating injury to his groin. Ambulance paramedics arrived on scene and treated that 12-year-old boy for that injury.”
The boy reportedly suffered minimal blood-loss as a result of the injury, which was non life-threatening, and Queensland Ambulance officials were at pains to stress that he was “very lucky, my word.” Reports suggest that the injury was “significant.”
School officials confirmed that medical staff at the school provided immediate first aid prior to ambulance officials arriving at the scene. They stressed that “the welfare of our students remains the number one priority of the College,” and confirmed support is being provided to those who witnessed the incident and were affected by it.
QLD Police did not attend the scene, and the incident is being treated as a freak accident and nothing more.
