The Russian tourist who was almost killed in a rare attack by a needlefish at a Vietnamese beach two weeks ago wants to take the teeth and bones of the fish back home as the keepsake of an unforgettable Vietnam trip, the patient said prior to her hospital discharge on Tuesday.

Kalinina Oxana, 44, is scheduled to leave Khanh Hoa General Hospital, based in the coastal province of Khanh Hoa, this afternoon, a fortnight after a 7.5 hour surgery that saved her from a severe spinal cord injury caused by a needlefish, according to doctors.

“The patient is able to walk and urinate by herself, and there is no sign of the cerebrospinal fluid leak syndrome,” Dr. Nguyen Van Xang, deputy director of the hospital, told Tuoi Tre on Tuesday. Cerebrospinal fluid is a clear colorless bodily fluid found in the brain and spine.

The hospital will organize a farewell party to say goodbye to the special Russian patient this afternoon, Xang added.

Since knowing that she was attacked by a fish, Oxana has asked doctors to bring its teeth and bones, removed from her neck during the surgery on April 15, back to Russia as “a special memento of an interesting trip to the Vietnamese tropical beach.”

These objects from the ‘attacker’ will be on display in her home, the Russian added.

Rare attack

Oxana was swimming with her husband at the Hon Chong beach in Nha Trang, the capital city of Khanh Hoa, on April 13 when she suddenly realized that her neck was injured and bleeding.

The tourist was unable to move her left arm and right leg and suffered from difficult breathing before she was rushed to Khanh Hoa General Hospital by some locals.

The victim was at first believed to be attacked by a dangerous water snake, but MSCT imaging later showed there were several saw-shaped objects piercing a vertebra on the left side of the column section in her neck.

Oxana then underwent a life-saving surgery, lasting from 10:30 pm on April 15 to 6:00 am the following day, during which doctors removed 23 pieces of what were later identified as the teeth and bones of a fish.

The patient regained consciousness one day after the operation and has since recovered quickly, according to doctors.

Samples of the teeth and bones were sent to the Institute of Oceanography in Nha Trang for identification on April 17, and maritime experts at the institute responded one day later that the samples belonged to a needlefish.

Needlefish live in very shallow marine habitats or the surface of the sea and only eat seaweed and plankton, according to local maritime experts.

They do not usually attack humans but can sometimes hurt people accidentally with their long, narrow jaws filled with sharp teeth when they are startled or for other unexpected reasons, they said.

Some fish researchers have said the attack was an unprecedented case in Nha Trang in recent decades.

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