TOP STORY: Man impaled in freak accident

By Dylan Thorne and Beck Vass
A flying piece of wood at least 30cm long has impaled a Tauranga man through his jaw in a freak industrial accident rescuers say almost killed him.
The 33-year-old was in the Mount Joinery Ltd workshop when the triangular-shaped piece of wood flew off a colleague's saw and lodged in his jaw, just below his ear. He was flown to Waikato Hospital where he remains in a stable condition after specialist surgeons there removed the wood.
Ambulance staff say the man was lucky to be alive as the wood narrowly missed major blood vessels. The accident happened about 3pm on Tuesday.
Details of the accident emerged today with Jonty Aitken, the man operating the saw telling the Bay of Plenty Times the man had been standing about five metres behind him when the accident happened.
When he turned around, the man, who has worked at the Newton St premises for only a month, was on his knees.
"I've been in this job 10 to 12 years and never had anything like this come off the saw," Mr Aitken said.
"He was 5 1/2 metres away when it struck him ... it was horrific.
"He wasn't talking at the time, he was still conscious. I was blown away, I didn't think anyone could be conscious with that sort of impact. We were talking to him just trying to keep him calm."
Mr Aitken said the piece of wood was about 30cm long and about 4cm thick.
"I've never seen anything like it - even at trade school when they show you horror slides I never saw anything like this. I've never had anything come off the saw.
"He was lucky it didn't kill him but unlucky as well because it was a freak accident."
Mr Aitken said it had been a difficult few days waiting to hear if his co-worker was okay.
"The boss has been good, ringing me with updates," he said.
St John Western Bay area manager Jeremy Gooders said when ambulance staff arrived at the scene the man was in "considerable distress".
"He was crouched down, leaning forward with quite a lot of blood coming from his mouth. He couldn't talk.
"It's gone through his neck about 2cm under his left ear ... there was about 12 inches (30cm) of it still sticking out of his neck. It appeared that it had gone almost right through his neck, upwards towards his mouth and jaw.
"It was a very serious injury - potentially life threatening because of the close proximity of his airways, major blood vessels and the carotid artery," he said.
Mr Gooders said it was not common for St John officers to get such callouts.
"From time to time we do transport people with foreign objects impaled in them.
"It was a very serious and unusual life-threatening accident."
Tauranga Hospital emergency department clinical nurse Marama Tauranga said the piece of wood appeared to have gone through both sides of the man's jaw.
"It's the first time I've seen anything like it," Mrs Tauranga said.
"He was actually conscious and aware when he came into the emergency department.
"We gave him pain relief. He tolerated it pretty well considering," she said.
The piece of wood was not removed because of fears it could cause internal damage and the man was flown yesterday to Waikato Hospital with the wood still imbedded in his neck.
Specialist surgeons removed the piece of wood yesterday and the man is now in a stable condition.
An Occupational Safety and Health spokeswoman said an investigation was being carried out into the accident.