It seems nowhere is safe, not even in the arms of your own mother. That’s where a three-year old Zhuhai girl was when she was hit in the head with a dart filled with a mysterious substance, reports Southern Metropolis Daily.

At around 9:30pm on June 29, Mr Jia was driving home to Jianfeng Village, Jing’an County on his electric scooter with his wife and two children. When he was just about to turn right onto Jianfeng Front Road from Jiangwan Central Road, something flew out from across the road and struck his wife’s backpack with a huge noise. The sound was so loud that Jia thought the vehicle had hit something.

Upon stopping the bike and turning around, Jia saw that this daughter, Xiao Man, had a needle sticking out from the top of her head. After crying out once, she fell unconscious after about three seconds. Upon arriving at the hospital ten minutes later, Xiao Man stopped breathing and had no pulse. Her skin had turned purple and her pupils had dilated.

Dr Zhang Ying of the No.5 Auxiliary Zunyi Hospital alerted pediatrics, neurosurgery, brain surgery, and intensive care unit specialists. Within ten minutes, Xiao Man recovered her breathing, and regained consciousness within half an hour. She is currently recovering.

The object that pricked Xiao Man looks like a tranquilizer dart used on animals, and is armed with a needle that is one inch long. Police think it was shot by a crossbow.

Upon testing, the dart was discovered to contain succinylcholine, a compound used to induce muscle relaxation and short-term paralysis. Despite being listed on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, Dr Yang Ying says the drug is extremely rare in Zhuhai and used only under the strictest of conditions.

Our hospital doesn’t have it, and your average factory will have trouble getting it.

So far there are no suspects or witnesses.

Photo: Nandu