Boy impaled through the arm by flying beach umbrella

A boy was impaled by a beach umbrella on Friday afternoon while he was visiting the US city of Gloucester in Massachusetts, according to local authorities.

The 13-year-old was on Good Harbor Beach when an umbrella became loose in the wind and flew into his shoulder, leaving him seriously hurt.

"That umbrella went flying," said witness Mike Marnoto of Gloucester, who said he was on the beach with his one-year-old daughter. "It was terrible. I saw the whole thing.

"The poor kid was hit and went running with blood coming down his shoulder. He was screaming in pain," Marnoto told the Boston Herald. "He ran about 10 yards and collapsed."

The child, who was with family members, began screaming after the freak accident.

"Get the lifeguard, get the lifeguard," another witness Brandon Phillips recalled hearing. "The lifeguard sprinting up and down, getting the medics, getting everybody else on his radio."

Lifeguards assisted by an off-duty nurse, helped the teen using a beach towel to try and stop the bleeding from the wound.

"When I ran over, there was a really large gash in his shoulder," said witness Jacobs Vargus, who works on the beach. "I was just telling him, 'don't worry, everything's going to be alright, you're doing good, kid, you're doing awesome.'"

The youngster was taken to a local hospital to be treated for his injury.

Beach umbrellas impaling people is rare but not completely unheard of. Last year, a British woman was impaled on a New Jersey beach. It pierced her ankle and was driven completely through due to the "force of the wind," local police said.