A man is fighting for life after being impaled by a piece of wood following a horror dinghy crash on the Gold Coast.
The 47-year-old man was travelling with two others in a dinghy between Sovereign Island and Paradise Point around 3.30pm on Sunday, when the vessel collided with a yacht in waters off The Esplanade.
During the collision, police said the skipper of the dinghy ended up with a large piece of wood “impaled into his head behind his right eye”.
Thankfully an off-duty doctor was at the dock where the trio returned to following the crash and convinced the man and his mates not to remove it then and there.
He assisted the injured man before he was rushed to the Gold Coast University Hospital where he’s expected to undergo surgery today.
The two other passengers, a 41-year-old Mount Warrant Park man and a 56-year-old Mount Nathan man, managed to escape uninjured.
Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles confirmed a major investigation into the crash is now underway.
“It certainly looks like this dinghy was travelling at a rate of knots and there is some indications at this stage that alcohol has been involved in this incident,” Acting Supt Knowles told ABC Gold Coast.
“We’ve taken blood and we will be looking at whether alcohol was involved in this.”
The yacht sustained significant damage, but thankfully no one was on board at the time.
Gold Coast Water Police are urging witnesses or anyone with relevant vision to come forward as investigations continue.
