Young man recovers from serious fishing spear injuries in his head

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 21 February 2024: A 20 year male of Vaovai village, Falealili is recovering at the Moto’otua National hospital after an emergency operation to remove a fishing spear that lodged between the left side of his mouth and came out through the back of his head.

It’s alleged the victim and another person were playing with the spear gun when it accidently fired and caught him on the neck.

The combined surgical team at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital and a Chinese medical team successfully removed the spear and saved the young man’s life.

The hospital did not inform police of the incident and the Assistant Commissioner of police, Papalii Monalisa Keti said they are investigating the incident following media enquiries.

The surgical/medical team after successfully removing the spear held by one of the team members on the left.

It is the second accident within the week that the hospital failed to inform the police.

The first incident was the death of a 13 year old college girl who died after she slipped and hit her head on a hard object at school last Friday. The doctor on duty signed the girl’s death certificate without waiting for the Coroners decision whether to conduct a post mortem or not.

In a separate accident that took the life of a young person in the weekend, a 15 year old boy of Amaile village died when he was electrocuted in the weekend.

Reports from the village said the boy went to plug in an extension light for a village event at night when he was electrocuted.