A boy who swallowed 20 powerful magnets in a construction toy which ripped holes through his intestines has been saved by medics in Ukraine.

The boy, from Kyiv, had been rushed to hospital by his parents when he complained of agonising stomach pains.

Shocked surgeons found a string of magnetic sticks which had become stuck together through the walls of his digestive tract tearing holes in the boy’s upper intestine.

Amazingly, medics were able to remove most of the sticks with an endoscope probe, painstakingly using their magnets to link them in a line and pull them from the boy.

But a final stick had to be removed surgically and five holes torn in the digestive tract by the magnets were repaired. The Okhmatdyt National Children’s Specialised Hospital said in a statement obtained by Newsflash.

Surgeons warn that if swallowed, magnets quickly join together in the intestine or bowels and can squeeze the tissue, cutting off the blood supply and triggering necrosis.

The hospital said in a statement on 13th February. “With the first X-ray, specialists saw the presence in the intestinal channel of a whole group of external bodies, which we managed to recognise immediately as a magnetic toy.

“Twenty magnets were located in different parts of the stomach and intestinal tract, but they were connected.”

And the hospital told how their endoscope team carefully linked the magnetic sticks. Which had magnets at either end, before pulling them up through the boy’s throat.

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The hospital explained: “They examined the mucous shells of the oesophagus, stomach, and duodenoscopy (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) and assessed the condition of the upper sections of the digestive tract, and found swallowed objects that were stuck together.

“Medics managed to seize the first magnet and pull it out along with a chain of 18 elements of the constructor.”

The statement added: “However, one magnet remained and specialists were not able to remove it endoscopically.

“Further behind the operating table, surgeons started to work.

“A laparotomy and a thorough revision of intestinal cavity organs were performed.

“During this, five perforative holes and the last element of the constructor were detected in the child. All holes were closed and the magnet was removed.

“Thanks to the talent and professionalism of our doctors, the baby was saved.

“He is now undergoing a post-op course of treatment and rehabilitation. So we wish the boy a speedy recovery”