KEY POINTS:
A stingray speared a fisherman in the leg three times yesterday and lifted him into the air.
In the final blow the barb went right through the man's leg and snapped off.
The 43-year-old from Dannevirke was in a stable condition in Palmerston North Hospital last night awaiting surgery.
The man was laying a fishing net with a friend at Herbertville Beach, about 68km southeast of Dannevirke in the Manawatu, when he stood on the stingray about 4.30pm.
St John ambulance district operations manager Stephen Smith said the man was in water 30cm-deep and didn't see the creature.
"He felt it under his foot and next thing it lifted him into the air and stabbed him three times.
"In the final stab its barb went right through his leg and out the other side. We think that's when it broke off inside his leg."
The man's friend drove him back to their bach on a quad bike.
The nearest ambulance was in Porangahau, about 29km north of Herbertville, and took about 20 minutes to reach the house.
In the meantime, a family member had bandaged the man's leg and the National Poisons Centre had advised him to sit in a bath of warm water to soothe the pain.
Paramedics assessed the man's injuries before the Hastings-based Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter flew him to Palmerston North.
The local Fire Service helped to find a landing spot for the helicopter.
"He was in quite a bit of pain when we got to him," Mr Smith said. "He was really feeling ill."
Mr Smith said the man described the stingray as "fairly large", although he was unable to get a good look at it.
He said ambulance services in the area attended about two stingray-related incidents a year.
"They're quite often in shallow, warm water."
A hospital duty manager said last night that the patient had been in a stable condition since the incident and was about to undergo surgery on his leg.
In October, Gavin Scoles, 43, was speared in the thigh by a stingray barb that severed an artery, causing him to lose almost a quarter of his blood.
He had been trying to free the stingray from a net on his boat off Mercury Island when its razor-sharp spike sliced into his left leg.
In March, Max Wakefield, 46, was speared in the stomach as he dived for crayfish at Blackhead Pt in southern Hawkes Bay.
