Construction worker impaled for 4 hours saved in Rehovot

Wagdi Shehada, from Deir Hanna near Karmiel, miraculously survives both a fall into a 10-meter-deep hole, being skewered in chest by a sharp metal rod.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Injured man in hospital 311 (photo credit: Kaplan Medical Center)
Injured man in hospital 311
(photo credit: Kaplan Medical Center)
Wagdi Shehada, a young construction worker from Deir Hanna near Karmiel, has miraculously survived both a fall into a 10-meter-deep hole in Rehovot and being skewered in the chest by a sharp metal rod.
Dr. Yoram Klein, head of the trauma unit at Kaplan Medical Center who treated Shehada from his admission last week until his discharge this week, said the case was extremely rare and his survival unbelievable, but the rapid and optimum treatment he received made it possible.
Shehada was working in a project to expand the Rehovot mall, said Klein, who also works as a physician in the IAF’s Unit 669 heliborne medevac extraction group and participated in pulling Shehada out of the hole and administering his immediate treatment.
The construction worker said he fell face down into the hold and remained hanging upside down with the metal rod in his chest.
“I was fully conscious and felt I had no legs and no more air. I screamed for almost four hours until somebody heard me begging to get me out. I lost a lot of blood in the dark hole.”
When the rescue unit and ambulance medics arrived, they pulled him up by the legs and performed emergency surgery on the spot.
“It was a miracle that I was alive. The metal was still in my body until I reached the hospital, where it was removed with a special device.”
Shehada underwent complex surgery to remove the rod whole and repair internal organs to save his life. In intensive care and monitored around the clock, he recovered quickly. Shehada and his family expressed their deep thanks to the hospital staffers for saving him.