Factory worker impaled by spikes after robot malfunctions


WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT: A factory worker has survived being impaled by 10 metal spikes after a robot malfunctioned.

The worker, known as Mr Zhou, was working at a porcelain factory in the Hunan province of China when he was hit by a falling robotic arm impaling him with spikes on December 4 about 11.30pm, the People’s Daily reported.

The spikes were about half-an-inch thick, and horrific pictures show the spikes sticking through the 49-year-old’s body as he receives medical attention at Xiangya Hospital.

Six of them pierced his right shoulder and chest while four pierced his forearm and wrist. He was unable to use his right arm following the accident.

They were each about 30 centimetres long and about 1.2 centimetres thick.

Mr Zhou was impaled by 10 spikes after a robotic arm collapsed on him at a porcelain factory in Hunan, China. Source: Australscope/Shutterstock
Mr Zhou was impaled by 10 spikes after a robotic arm collapsed on him at a porcelain factory in Hunan, China. Source: Australscope/Shutterstock

Mr Zhou was fortunate too as one of the spikes missed an artery by just 0.1mm.

Wu Panfeng, associate professor of hand microsurgery, said the operation to remove the metal was difficult.

“They were relatively big so there was no means of getting fitting the patient into the X-ray machine while the nails themselves could have caused interference with X-rays,” he said.

Mr Zhou’s condition is now stable and he will undergo physiotherapy as part of his recovery.

He’s already able to move his right arm.

In September, a young couple were left nursing third degree burns after a can of cooking oil exploded in a kitchen.

Jacob Dalton was cooking dinner on a gas burning stove at the home he shares with his wife Paytene, 20, in Utah, according to a GoFundMe page.

Each spike is about three metres long. Source: Australscope/Shutterstock
Each spike is about three metres long. Source: Australscope/Shutterstock

In July, a British woman was impaled by a beach umbrella in a freak accident in the US.

Margaret Reynolds, a 67-year-old woman from London, was visiting Seaside Heights in New Jersey when part of a beach umbrella skewered her leg.