A man was left with a giant splinter this week after his paraglider crashed into a forest. And by ‘giant splinter’, we mean he was literally skewered by a tree branch.

Ivan Krasouski had been flying near the village of Loshany in Belarus when a strap snapped on his paraglider and he lost control, falling into woodland.

Shocking pictures show how a tree branch impaled into his shoulder as he crashed. Rescuers were later forced to cut him free from the wreckage of his machine – but could not free him from the giant splinter, reports the Metro.

Instead, paramedics rushed both Ivan and the giant log – still embedded in his shoulder – to hospital. He posed for pictures as he waited to have the branch removed by emergency ward medics.

Speaking to local news stations, he said: ‘I was flying and crashed onto pine trees. ‘I [remember] thinking: ‘I fell so softly, all is okay’. But as I went to stand up and go, something held me back. ‘I looked and it was a giant log there. ‘I tore my shirt and there was a branch in my arm, thick as a watermelon.’

Astonishingly, Ivan said he found the whole situation ‘funny’ – and later compared himself to American cartoon superhero Groot. ‘My classmate arrived. He works as a rescuer,’ he said.

‘He sawed off the log from one side, then from the other. Many people came. I told them – ‘Take out this splinter’, and they would say ‘No, are you crazy?’ ‘If we take it away, you’ll bleed to death. ‘I was like – ‘I am Groot!’ And I went to the ambulance with this log embedded in me.’ Doctors later managed to remove the log and Ivan is now recovering.