Search Here

This story is sure to make you think twice before your next game of tug-of-war: a boy and a girl had their fingers gruesomely ripped off in a high-school tug-of-war game during Spirit Week.

The two California students, who have no been named, were only identified as a female senior soccer player and a male football player, according to The San Gabriel Valley Tribune.  

The boy and girl attended El Monte Union High School in Los Angeles County. The students had been participating in the tug-of-war game during lunchtime to celebrate homecoming at their high school when horror struck.

They were rushed to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where surgeons are hoping they will be able to reattach the fingers, the Los Angeles County Fire Captain Miguel Garcia told the newspaper.

Police did not say how many fingers were lost or how the game ended up with two students being injured, but KTLA reported that each of the two students lost at least one finger.

 Hospital spokeswoman Rosa Sacca told The San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the students were in stable condition and that their parents were by their bedside.

"They were getting ready to be taken to the operating room to try to re-attach the fingers," Sacca said.

According to reports from KTLA, this is not the first time someone has been injured playing tug-of-war.  A girl from Minnesota had lost four fingers during a game in 2008 and, in 1997 two Taiwanese men had their arms severed during a game with more than 1,600 players.