A nine-year-old boy in Maioli sustained serious injury to his buttocks and feet yesterday in the latest in a series of what local media have labeled "washbasin explosions."
The expression refers to bathroom sinks that shatter when they fall off walls they are attached to.
An operation and a massive blood transfusion saved the boy's life, his doctor said.
"The boy suffered a serious cut on one buttock and a massive hemorrhage. But fortunately, the rectum and other organs were unharmed," said Ho Ping (賀玢), chief surgeon at Wei Gong Hospital.
Hardly heard of previously, there have been more than 10 accidents involving shattered bathroom washbasins reported this year.
Some charge that the accidents result from badly secured sinks. Others implicate their quality.
The Consumers' Foundation said the washbasins in the reported accidents were of various brands.
The Cabinet's Consumer Protection Commission is to hold a committee meeting over the issue, a consumer ombudsman said.
The ombudsman, Lee Ying-cheng (
In yesterday's incident, the boy was alone in the bathroom washing his feet, the boy's family was quoted by Dr. Ho as saying.
"The washbasin broke off the wall and shattered, injuring the boy's feet," he said, quoting the family's report of the incident, adding, "In great shock, he fell and sat on the debris."
He said the boy was still too shocked to speak of what happened.
The medical staff gave the boy an 800cc blood transfusion, "almost one-third of the amount of blood a child of that age would normally have," Ho said.
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