[Sportschosun reporter Jang Jong-ho] A fisherman in Taiwan suffered a frightening accident when a fishing hook lodged in his eye.
Unable to remove the hook, he had to visit an ophthalmologist while carrying the entire fishing rod.
According to Taiwanese media outlets including ETtoday, a 48-year-old man surnamed Lin, who lives in Kaohsiung, was fishing with his friend Chen at dawn on a breakwater in Donggang, Pingtung County.
They used a special braided fishing line with high tensile strength and almost no stretch in order to target large fish.
Around 8 a.m. that day, when the line tightened, Lin assumed a large fish had taken the bait and jerked the rod backward hard. In fact, nothing had been hooked, and the hook snapped back and lodged directly in the area around his right eye.
His friend Chen, who was standing nearby, tried to pull out the line, but the hook would not come out and the pain only got worse.
In the end, Lin covered his eye with one hand as he moved, while his friend carried the entire fishing rod to the eye clinic.
The fishing line was so strong that it could not be easily cut with ordinary scissors or a knife, so Lin had to enter the examination room still attached to the rod.
Medical staff wrapped the line several times with clear tape and then cut it to separate the patient from the rod.
A detailed examination later found that the hook had caught inside the eye, but fortunately it had not penetrated the eyeball itself. The hook was lodged only in the lower conjunctival area, and there was no serious damage such as eyeball rupture or laceration.
The ophthalmologist explained, "Almost all of the major ocular tissues were unharmed," adding that "the patient was extremely lucky."
Specialists noted that accidents in which hooks snap back into the face or eyes are not uncommon during fishing, and urged people to wear protective eyewear and check their surroundings for safety.
Jang Jong-ho, bellho@sportschosun.com
