A DRIVER miraculously survived despite being impaled on a two-and-a-half foot long iron spike - which went right through his body.

The motorist, known only as Narendra, 20, was driving in India when he collided with a pick up truck, leaving him impaled on an iron rod.

The metal stick went through the right side of his chest and came out of his upper back - unsurprisingly injuring his lungs.

But medics spent three hours painstakingly removing the spike, and just days later he is up and walking, and is expected to make a good recovery.

Professor Siddharth Lakhotia, head of cardio thoracic surgery at BHU Trauma Centre said: "It seemed almost impossible that he would survive.

"The only way to save him was to remove the rod by surgery and pray."