Grinder used to free boy’s arm from swimming pool pipe

tParamedics had to struggle for more than three hours to free a  primary school boy’s arm from a swimming pool’s sucksion pipe at a school in Bloemfontein on Friday.

ER24 pamedics, along with other services, managed to cut off part of the pipe,  ER spokesman, Pieter Rossouw said. They took him to Mediclinic Bloemfontein for urgent assessment.  Part of the pipe was still attached to the boy’s arm.

Emergency staff, assisted by ER24 paramedics, sedated the patient and used various tools, including a grinder, to remove the pipe from the boy’s arm. The procedure took about two hours.

The boy is in a stable condition. The cause of the incident remains unknown.