Welsh builder fired nail gun in to own crotch, narrowly missed genitals

Mathew is lucky to be alive after the nail missed a main artery. Photo / Caters

A ballsy builder is lucky to be alive after accidentally firing an inch-and-a-half nail into his own crotch - barely missing his penis.

Sweat-inducing pictures of the horrific hydraulic hand nail gun incident were captured by Mathew Meagher, a colleague of the unfortunate 22-year-old.

Mathew said the man, who did not wish to be named, mistimed pulling the trigger on the piece of equipment while working on a site outside Swansea, Wales on Thursday afternoon - resulting in the excruciating injury of every man's worst nightmares.

And stunned Mathew, 30, also from Swansea, claims the construction worker 'wasn't fazed' as he stood with the heavy-duty nail embedded into his nether regions.

Mathew, who runs his own building company, said: "For want of a better phrase, the nail was pretty much through his d**k.

"He was very, very lucky. If it had been any closer the doctors said it would have gone straight through one of the main arteries.

"He came over to me and said he'd shot himself. It's something that shouldn't happen, and at first I couldn't see anything.

"And then I saw it. I just went white. I said to him, 'Jesus, what's that?' I couldn't believe it.

"He wasn't crying or screaming in pain or anything, he was just dead calm. It hadn't fazed him at all.

"He said his leg was starting to go numb, but his demeanour just wasn't changing."

Mathew claims the steely builder even asked whether he should pull the nail out himself.

But he said he advised against this straight away, for fear of it causing even more damage.

After a gruelling hour-long drive from the site to A&E in Swansea, Mathew delivered his still apparently unfazed colleague to the hospital doors.

The construction worker was rushed straight to surgery where doctors removed the nail and has since made a full recovery.

Single Mathew, who has been a builder for 15 years, said: "When we got to A&E we were told to wait, but when we showed them where the nail was his was rushed straight to surgery. He had to go under the knife for them to get it out.

"I've never seen anything like that on the building site before. People couldn't believe it. He wanted me to share the pictures of it on social media.

"It makes your eyes water. Even looking back I'm flinching. I'm very relieved it wasn't me. I had a couple of dates coming up that weekend."

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive confirmed the incident had not been reported to them.