Doctors airlift boy with 42 needles stuck in him

RIO DE JANEIRO — A 2-year-old boy with more than 40 sewing needles stuck in him is being airlifted to another hospital in northeastern Brazil because two of the needles are close to his heart, an official said Thursday.

Police officials, meanwhile, told Brazilian media that the boy's former stepfather is in custody and that he confessed to sticking the needles into the boy at the behest of two women, perhaps in a black magic ritual.

Surgeons at a hospital in the town of Barreiras in Bahia state decided not to try to remove any needles after discovering that two were very near the boy's heart, said an official at Hospital do Oeste. She spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not authorized to discuss the case.

She said that doctors had located 42 needles in the boy — eight fewer than they had reported finding Wednesday. The boy was in intensive care but was in stable condition before being airlifted 240-miles (390 kilometers) north, she said.