This is the moment firefighters cut a metal umbrella pole from a beach goer’s thigh after strong wind sent it flying across the sand and into the man’s leg “like a spear”.
The incident was filmed in the coastal city of Mar del Plata in the eastern Argentine province of Buenos Aires on 24th December.
The injured victim said that he had to wait in the stormy weather for around 30 minutes for firefighters to arrive with a hydraulic cutter.
Ignacio Mascarenhas, 31, was visiting the beach with his partner when strong wind sent the umbrella flying across the sand before impaling his leg.
He said: “It was like a spear. The pain was unbearable.”
Mascarenhas said a local surfer helped him at the time while his girlfriend Mailen, whom he took to the beach to celebrate one year together, looked on in disbelief.
He added: “The surfer helped me to remove the upper part of the umbrella and we kept the pole where it was.”
Minutes later, the man was given first aid by personnel from the port fire station while waiting for the emergency services to arrive on the scene.
Mascarenhas said he had to wait half an hour for firefighters to arrive with cutters to trim the long pole, otherwise he would not have fitted into the ambulance.
The musician and teacher was taken to the Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos for emergency treatment.
He said: “They put me to sleep, operated on me and removed the iron pole. When they took it out, they told me it did not touch any tendons, nerves, veins, or arteries.
“When they removed the pole, I did not bleed. They told family members that it was the best point where it could have entered.”
Doctors said that if the pole had embedded in his leg five centimetres higher, it would have hit his femoral artery and his life would have been in danger.
