A man has somehow survived after a car crash resulted in a piece of metal piercing his skull from his forehead to ear.
Shocking images show 29-year-old Ullas Kumar, from Kannur, southern India, in hospital after being impaled by a steel rod from a car's headrest.
Kumar was in a car with a pal heading to the airport to pick up his brother when disaster struck and the vehicle ended up in a head-on collision with a lorry.
The driver of the car, Abdul Wahba died on impact, but Kumar was impaled with the steel fixings from inside the headrest.
The piece of metal went straight through his face, entering just above his left eye, and pierced his skull before coming out above his ear.
He was rushed to Aster MIMS hospital in Kozhikode, India, where he underwent surgery to remove the steel rod. Miraculously, Kumar managed to recover within five days of the accident. Doctors were even able to save his vision.
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Kumar said: "My car met with accident, collided with lorry. My headrest stick penetrated into my head.
"I have never expected this kind of recovery from that accident. I feel it like a rebirth."
Dr Rahul Menon, CEO of Aster MIMS, added: "Removing the pierced steel rod without affecting the eye sight of the patient was tremendous job and would like to congratulate the doctors of the neurosurgery department for this meticulous recovery."
Dr Noufal Basheer said: "On the accident spot many stepped back due to fear, but a youngster came up to him and took him to the hospital.
"Understanding it's a dangerous situation, the guy never tried taking out the iron stick and provided with timely proper care."
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Earlier this week, doctors at a different Indian hospital were able to save a builder who was impaled on 4ft pole, which went in through his groin and out through his neck.
Salim Sheikh, 33, was working on a new building when he slipped and fell on a pile of steel rods - one of them managed to pierce him right though his body.
Scans showed the rod had ripped through his small intestine, colon, liver, lung and diaphragm before exiting through his collar bone.
However, after a painstaking five hour surgery, medics were able to remove the pole and he was moved to a general ward where he's expected to make a full recovery.
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Dr. S.R. Bhagwat, who was part of the team who operated on Sheikh, said: "The patient was able to survive the accident as it narrowly missed the major vessels.
"We gained access to the abdomen but in order to ensure safe retrieval of the rod and to avoid concomitant injuries to the surrounding vital organs during retrieval, the procedure was converted to an open laparotomy.
"They managed to control bleeding from the liver and the mesentery after which they repaired the damage to abdominal vital organs.
"The patient was fortunate enough to have avoided injury to important structures in abdomen like urinary bladder, kidney and inferior vena cava, and the superior vena cava in the chest."
Featured Image Credit: SWNSTopics: World News, Surgery, India