A 24-year-old Brazilian construction worker survived after a six-foot metal bar fell from the fifth floor and pierced his head.

Doctors at Rio de Janeiro's Miguel Couto Hospital removed the bar from Eduardo Leite's skull during a five-hour-long operation, the Globo TV network reported.

Hospital spokesman Luiz Essinger said Mr Leite was lucid and showed no ill effects of the operation.

He said "it really was a miracle" that Mr Leite survived.

The bar fell from the fifth floor of a building under construction, went through his hard hat, entered the back of his skull and exited between his eyes.