According to a Daily Star UK report, a young boy was lucky to survive after a knitting needle got stuck so far back in his throat that it penetrated his skull.
The unnamed lad, five, was reportedly playing with the 10cm metal needle when he fell on to it.
The end of the needle was in his mouth and was driven into the back of his throat by the fall at his home in the city of Bijie in south-west China's Guizhou Province.
The needle, with a handle halfway up its length, is used for knitting clothes and it is not clear how the boy came to be playing with it.
He was rushed to Guizhou People's Hospital in the provincial capital Guiyang, as a local hospital was deemed not able to help.
Doctors said the boy's life was at risk because the needle had gone into his skull.
But they successfully removed the needle in a four-hour operation.
He is said to be in a stable condition.
The boy's father Yu Fangzheng said: "Thanks to doctors' timely help, my son has been saved. We will be more careful in the future."
It was not reported who was supervising the boy at the time of the accident.
No police involvement was reported.