A young man from Tweed, Ont., is recovering in hospital after he accidentally discharged his crossbow Monday morning and fired a 70-centimetre-long arrow straight through his chest, local paramedics say.

Emergency crews, along with officers from the Central Hastings Ontario Provincial Police detachment, were called to a rural home north of the town at around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

Paramedics found the 19-year-old man with the arrow stuck in his chest and "protruding out his back," said Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services Chief Doug Socha.

It's quite amazing that the injuries weren't more severe. - Doug Socha , chief of Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services

The man was conscious and talkative — albeit in "a lot of pain" — as he was driven by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Belleville, Ont., Socha said.

OPP and the Belleville police department barricaded roads so the ambulance could arrive as quickly as possible, Socha said. The man was then quickly assessed and airlifted by helicopter to hospital in Kingston, Ont., which serves as the region's trauma centre, Socha said.

The man was "very lucky" to be alive, Socha added.

"It's quite amazing that the injuries weren't more severe," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like that, and I've been a paramedic over 20 years."

Socha said he didn't know what the man was doing when the crossbow went off, but he'd been told by first responders that the shooting was unintentional. OPP continue to investigate.

Tweed is about 200 kilometres southwest of Ottawa.