Cuttack, May 7: It was no less than a miracle for the family members of Bhimsen Jena (28), who survived a major accident that nearly cost his life.

A sharp sickle had impaled Jena’s neck and had ruptured a vein and a nerve around his chest.

Luckily, he has now got a new lease of life after doctors at the S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital here successfully removed the sickle following a major surgery that lasted for nearly two hours last night.

A four-member team, led by head of the department of cardiothoracics and vascular surgery N.K. Patnaik, carried out the surgery that had a lot of complications, said the hospital sources.

“A sickle had pierced the neck of the patient and had damaged the vein around the windpipe. We had to track the path of the sickle and the body parts that it had affected,” said chief surgeon Devendra Kumar Dash.

According to Dash, it was rare surgery and usually in such cases, people should not remove the foreign object on their own. Rather they should seek medical assistance immediately, which can be helpful in saving a patient’s life.

Jena, who hails from Bhatasira village under Anandpur of Keonjhar district, was sustained injury when he was repairing the roof of his house at around 6am yesterday.

“It was the most dreadful scene for all the family members. They were awe-struck. They did not have any idea about what to do. However, we immediately rushed him to the hospital and later shifted to SCB,” said Arjun Jena, his brother.

According to the family members, the sickle that Jena was holding pierced through his neck after he fell down from the roof. Following the incident, they rushed him to the Anandpur hospital and later shifted him to S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital after his condition deteriorated.

The entire family was worried as the surgery had begun hours after they had admitted Jena at SCB.

However, authorities at SCB said initially doctors attempted a surgery but the patient started to bleed profusely. Then he had to be shifted to the department of cardiothoracics and vascular surgery where the operation was completed successfully around 9pm.

“It was a complicated surgery as three-fourth of the entire sickle had pierced through his left neck and ruptured a vein. It could have damaged the lungs,” said doctor Sidhart Shankar Das.

In another development, Jena said it is a second life for him as he had almost lost hope.

However, despite this, he continued to fight the tense moments and had left everything to God.

“I was very tense the moment the sickle entered my neck. But I kept praying to God who finally gave me a second lease of life,” said Jena.