A 14-year-old boy miraculously survived accidentally shooting himself in the head with a one-foot-long harpoon in Thailand.

Chayathorn Thankrathok was with his friends hunting fish in a canal in Nakhon Ratchasima province on November 19.

But when he fired the harpoon into the water, it reportedly struck rocks below the surface then rebounded toward his face, piercing his skull and lodging between his eyebrows.

The panicked youngsters called the rescue team, who found hapless Chayathorn breathing heavily as he lay on the ground with the harpoon jutting out of his head. They rushed the boy to the Chakkarat Hospital, where they then cut off a part of the harpoon.

CT scans revealed that the harpoon had 'penetrated the skull deep into the brain'. As the procedure was too delicate, doctors had to transfer the teen to the Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital where there was better equipment.

Surgeons successfully removed the harpoon without having to saw open Chaiyathorn's skull. However, he was still being monitored for potential infections or brain damage.

Chayathorn said: 'I remember firing the harpoon at a fish and then it hit me in the head. I was in pain and I fell down. I feel better now but I won't use the fishing harpoon again.'

Chaisit Phupharat, head of Rescue Unit Hook 31 that responded to the incident, said: 'The villagers said they often use harpoons instead of rods
for fishing.

'The victim missed a fish then the spear bounced back toward his face. It was embedded in his skull, so he's very lucky to be alive.'

In December last year, Sarot Boonlarp, 30, was rushed to hospital after shooting himself in the face with his own harpoon in Rayong province, eastern Thailand. The sharp object had penetrated the left side of his face, running straight through his nose and emerging through the opposite cheek.

While before that, fisherman Thawatchai Weerabunpipattana, 25, suffered a similar accident when a harpoon impaled his right eye while he was fishing with friends in Pathum Thani on May 7.