One moment of the surgery
A video has shown the incredible moment heroic doctors risked their lives to remove a live grenade from a soldier's skull.
Military medics in Bogota, Colombia, held their nerve to remove the grenade, which could have exploded at any time, killing and injuring those in the vicinity.
It had become embedded in the skull of the soldier, identified as Luis Eduardo Perez Arango, of the Arauca Army's eighth division.
The dangerous procedure was carried out in the car park of the city’s Military Hospital, where a temporary operating theatre was set up to keep others safe.
Medics were worried that moving the patient might detonate the device.
Some reports suggest the misuse of a heavy fire weapon equipped with a rocket launcher resulted in the explosive accidentally hitting the soldier.
It ended up wedged in Arango's skull.
Doctors extracting the grenade
Chief surgeon William Sanchez, said: "It was a decisive moment, logically one of stress and uncertainty, but there was no other option than to push on to save the life of the patient, even praying and asking God not to let a bigger tragedy happen."
The surgeon described how the team carried out the operation with the utmost care.
He said their aim was not only to save the life of the patient, but to preserve their own, too, as the explosive could have exploded without warning.
He said: "We now have an established protocol. We logically did it outside the hospital, because if it were to activate it, it needed to be somewhere it would have the least impact."
Arango is now said to be out of danger and recovering under medical observation.
How the grenade became lodged in his face is still under investigation.
Watch the video below:
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