A devotee pierced a metal chain through his cheek for the brutal Vegetarian Festival in Thailand.

Graphic footage shows the 2ft-long object stabbing the man's face as festival-goers carefully helped him pull it out in Phang Nga province on February 5.

The unidentified man appeared to be in excruciating pain when the object passed through the open wound in his left cheek and out of his mouth.

Onlooker Piyawut Damkham said the chain was long and took almost a minute before it was taken out.

He said: 'Some use swords or knives but he was creative and did a metal chain. He almost passed out from the pain but he survived.'

During the bizarre Vegetarian Festival, devotees go to extreme and practice self-mutilation. They pierce themselves with swords, walk on hot coal, or climb on ladders with blades.

They do this with a firm belief that their repentance could help them chase away bad luck and cleanse their spirits.