Shot, and hit by lorry but South African man survives

A South African man is still alive despite shooting himself in the head and then being hit by a lorry.

The man, from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, was in a car when he shot himself, an emergency worker told the BBC.

The bullet got lodged in his skull without hitting his brain. He then got out of the car to seek help and was hit by a heavy lorry.

He is only alive "by some miracle" the emergency worker said. He is now being treated in a Durban hospital.

The man, who has not been named, was in a critical but stable condition, spokesman for the Netcare private emergency service Jeffrey Wicks said.

"I have never seen anything like this before in my career."

He refused to speculate on why the man had shot himself.

But he said he had used a small calibre .22 gun.

"He was in a lot of pain and dazed. He stumbled out into the road, when he was hit by a truck."