Pictured: X-ray of teenager with 12-inch kitchen knife lodged in head after he SURVIVES attack



This shocking X-ray shows how a teenager was stabbed, leaving a 12-inch blade in his head – and survived.

Doctors said the victim – known only as Alex – was ‘unbelievably lucky’ not to have been killed or at least blinded after the kitchen knife was lodged in his right temple.

The 19-year-old was on a night out with a group of friends in Sydney, Australia, when he was attacked.

'Unbelievably lucky': The X-ray shows how the knife was lodged in Alex's head

They had been to the harbourside Star City casino, but trouble broke out as they were heading home.

'A friend got involved in an argument with two guys behind me,' Alex said.

'I turned back to see if he was all right. Before I knew it, a fight broke out.

'One of the guys threw a punch in my face - or at least I thought it was a punch.'

In fact, Alex had been stabbed in the head with the kitchen knife.

Admitting he had never seen such a horrifying knife injury in which the victim had survived, the surgeon said Alex was 'unbelievably lucky'.

'Alex was stabbed in his right temple alongside the lateral canthus [the tissue where the upper and lower eyelids meet] of the right eye,' he said.

'Travelling parallel to the skull in the temporalis muscle [tissue on the side of the skull which controls jaw movement], the knife missed his eye, his skull, as well as the major arteries, veins and nerves, which are tightly packed in that region.'

The blade then protruded out through the skin towards the back of Alex's head.

The plastic handle had been removed from the weapon – something police say gangs are doing to make it easier to conceal the blade.

Photographs of his injuries have been described as 'too shocking' to reveal, but the X-ray image has been released to help track the attackers.

Police in Australia say knife attacks are on the rise - in just one week-end in Melbourne earlier this year, there were 13 incidents involving knives, most of which were alcohol or drug-related and involved young men.

In New South Wales last year, there were 3,736 knife-related crimes, with Sydney recording 254.