Flagpole spears pupil's leg

A Hamilton schoolboy was taken to hospital with a serious leg injury yesterday after a sideline flagpole almost went right through his thigh.

Fire Service and ambulance staff were called to Fraser High School in the afternoon after receiving reports that a 14-year-old had possibly been struck by a javelin. Fire officer Bruce MacGregor said the javelin was a plastic rugby flagpole with a nail-like end, which had been thrown at the boy.

The 1.5m pole was protruding from the boy's right thigh.

Firefighters cut the pole about 200mm from the entry point before ambulance staff took the boy to Waikato Hospital to have the object removed.

"It very nearly went right through his leg; just a few millimetres more and it could have," said Mr MacGregor.

Fraser High principal Martin Elliott said the boy was among a group who were throwing the plastic poles at one another when the accident happened. They were likely to have been skipping class and were not supervised at the time.

"They were just boys being boys doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time."