London, Dec 12 (ANI): An arrow-shooting game turned almost fatal for a schoolboy archer, who had a narrow escape after being shot through the eye by a friend.

The arrow went straight through 11-year-old sharp shooter Liu Cheong’’s eye socket, passing completely through his head and was only stopped by the back of his skull.

“If the arrow had been shot with just a bit more force, it would have come out the back of his head,” The Telegraph quoted doctors at Jida Hospital in Changchun, eastern China, as saying.

It was only because the arrow had miraculously missed his brain that the boy is still alive.

It took a four-hour operation for surgeons to remove the 16-inch arrow, which had sunk more than four inches into the boy’’s head.

The doctors had to cut away part of the arrow just to get the boy in the CT scanner.

Observing the brain scans and x-rays, the doctors finally began to cut away parts of his skull and successfully removed the arrow without damaging optic nerves or brain tissue.

The surgeons have also warned his parents that Cheong still faces a risk of infection and may have to go under further surgeries.

And the teammate who shot him, a 13-year-old girl called Yan Shin, is still in shock and is going under treatment.

“It is a miracle he survived the accident,” said one medic.

Teachers at Jiutai City school believe the youngsters were practicing on their own when the accident happened. (ANI)