Aussie impaled by actual fish during freak surfing accident
The Perth man said he felt a sharp slap on his face and initially thought it was a 'prank'.
An aspiring surfer is in recovery from a freak accident after a fish impaled his face, nearly blinding him, in Indonesia.
Now, I know surfers like to become one with the ocean while catching waves, but this isn’t what I had in mind.
Nine News reported that Steven Kezic’s nose was impaled by a fish flying out of the water while travelling to the Playground Surf Resort in the Mentawai Islands.
The man said he felt a sharp slap while sitting on the boat, but lucky for him, the fish just missed his eyes.
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Kezic, a carpenter from Como in Perth, initially thought it was one of his mates having a laugh and throwing seaweed at him.
Little did he know that it was actually a 30-centimetre-long garfish that jumped out of the water, with its needle nose instantly piercing the man’s face.
"I've looked around, everyone's looking at me like really intently," he said, according to the outlet.
"One of the coaches came up to me and said ‘you better stop, you've got a fish in your face'.”
Once Kezic saw that the fish had pierced through his nose and broke a piece of cartilage as blood poured out, he naturally ‘freaked’ out.
"I felt the slap of the fish and I could see a little bit through my nose," he said.
Kezic said that he felt no pain at the time of the incident, but later on the boat, he began to feel unwell.
"It was really lucky I didn't lose my eyesight, because I just turned and the garfish came right across. If it was a fraction higher it would have taken my eyes out,” he added.
Fortunately for Kezic, one of the surfers onboard was a doctor.
Kyle Kophamel set up a makeshift surgery back on dry land, operating for almost an hour to remove the fish beak and stitch up the man’s face.
Kophamel described the fish had literally entered ‘one side and had come out the other side' of Kezic's nose.
"Personally, I've never had anyone rock up to my emergency department with a fish stuck in their face,” he said.
Yep, this is definitely one for the books.
Charisa Bossinakis