Brazilian Man Shoots Himself In Head With Harpoon Gun

A Brazilian man has somehow avoided any brain damage after shooting himself through the eye with a six-inch harpoon.

Bruno Coutinho was cleaning his harpoon gun at his home in Petropolis when he accidentally triggered the apparatus, sending the harpoon through his left eye and into his cranium.

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X-rays showed the harpoon speared through his eye straight through to the back of his skull.

It took doctors four hours to successfully remove the metal harpoon.

A neighbour said: "There were people who saw it and got frightened. A thing like this you only see in a movie."

After the accident, Mr Coutinho was able to call for help before he was taken to Santa Teresa hospital.

Surgeons carried out two operations to remove the harpoon, which had been stuck inside his head for more than 10 hours.

Dr Orlando Maria, chief of neurosurgery at the hospital, said the harpoon came within millimetres of piercing a major artery in Mr Coutinho's head.

He said: "The object, it seems, took a path where it didn't damage any vital structures, any vascular structures and was taken out."

Amazingly, Mr Coutinho has not suffered any brain damage, although he has lost the sight in his left eye.

He has remained in intensive care, but is expected to be released in the next few days.