This X-ray shows 11 magnetic beads that punctured a three-year-old boy’s intestines four times after he swallowed them.

The young boy, named as Xiaojie in local reports, comes from the city of Dongguan in China’s southern Guangdong Province, started complaining that his stomach hurt and his parents took him to hospital for an X-ray on 1st September.

Doctors discovered that there were foreign bodies inside the young child’s abdominal cavity and after being transferred to hospital in Guangzhou, doctors performed a surgical operation on him to remove them.

During the operation, it was discovered that 11 magnetic beads were located in 3 different intestinal tubes, which had caused four intestinal perforations.

After removing the 11 magnetic beads from the child’s abdomen through a small incision, the doctor cut and sutured two of the perforated intestinal tubes and repaired the other two.

Nine days after the operation, Xiaojie was able to eat again and he was discharged from hospital on 15th September after making a full recovery.

The incident comes after a four-year-old boy swallowed 13 magnetic beads which formed a string in his gut and caused a gastrointestinal perforation earlier this year.

The incident took place in the city of Xi’an in the landlocked Chinese province of Shaanxi when the youngster found the beads lying around at home.

When the boy’s parents realised what happened, they took him to the Third Hospital of Xi’an where it was found that the magnetic beads had strung together and passed through the patient’s stomach wall.

The beads had reached the mucosa, the innermost layer of the gastrointestinal tract, and were posing a serious health risk, according to the news site Baidu.

The attending doctor confirmed that the 13 beads had formed a string in the boys system and that the magnetic force had made them reach the mucosa.

Doctors safely removed the foreign objects during endoscopic surgery on 22nd June.

Magnetic beads come in a range of colours and sizes and can resemble children’s sweets which can often lead to accidental swallowing.

Doctors reminded parents to pay attention to their children while playing with such objects.

According to Doctor Wang Fang, a gastroenterologist at the Third Hospital of Xi’an, since the Dragon Boat Festival in China in mid-June, their department has admitted many patients who swallowed magnetic beads and other foreign objects.