'Why is it dark?' asks Chinese boy blinded by woman attacker

A six-year-old Chinese boy who had his eyes gouged out does not know he has been blinded and asks his family why the sun has yet to rise, state media reported Wednesday.

The boy, surnamed Guo, was found covered in blood in the northern province of Shanxi after he went missing while playing outside, Chinese media reported previously.

His eyes, gouged out by an attacker, were recovered nearby, a police officer in Fenxi county who declined to be named told AFP.

The boy was being treated at an eye hospital and was not yet aware that he would be left blind for life, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

"He asks why the sky is always dark... and why the dawn still hasn't come," it quoted an uncle of the boy as saying.

"We could only tell him that his eyes had some injury and have to be bandaged.(We tell him that) They will be fine after the bandage is removed.

"It is such a difficult question to explain to him. It is the most heartbreaking thing," he said.

Earlier Chinese media reports said the boy's corneas were missing, leading to speculation that the attacker was an organ trafficker.

But police said on Wednesday that the corneas had been found attached to the eyeballs and ruled out organ sales as a motive, although they were unable to provide an alternative explanation.

"We are still working on it so we cannot offer any comment or make any assumption on the motives," the Fenxi officer said.

Police offered a 100,000 yuan ($16,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the sole suspect, whom they said was a woman.

Doctors plan to implant artificial eyeballs in the boy's eye sockets after his inflammation subsides so that people will not be scared by his appearance in the future, the uncle said according to the report.

Previous report

Police in China say a woman tricked a 6-year-old boy into going into a field, and then removed his eyeballs.

The boy's brutal ordeal happened Saturday in a rural area of Linfen city in Shanxi province, the city's police bureau said in a statement.

A police officer confirmed Wednesday that the boy's eyeballs had been removed. The officer, who only gave his surname, Liu, said he couldn't speculate on a motive because the investigation was continuing. "We are sparing no efforts trying to solve this case," he added.

Liu said the two eyeballs were found at the scene, and that the corneas hadn't been removed. State media previously had raised the possibility that the boy's corneas were taken for sale because of a donor shortage in China.

Earlier report:

A six-year-old boy in China had his eyes gouged out, blinding him for life, reports said on Tuesday, in a gruesome attack that may have been carried out by a ruthless organ trafficker.

Family members found the boy covered in blood some three to four hours after he went missing while playing outside, according to a television report posted online.

The child's eyes were found nearby but the corneas were missing, reports said, implying that an organ trafficker was behind the harrowing attack.

Police offered a 100,000 yuan ($16,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the sole suspect, who they said was a woman.

"He had blood all over his face. His eyelids were turned inside out. And inside, his eyeballs were not there," his father told Shanxi Television.

Its report showed the heavily-bandaged boy being taken from an operating theatre and placed in a hospital bed, writhing in agony as family members stood at his bedside weeping.

The boy was drugged and "lost consciousness" before the attacker removed his eyes, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said on its account on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

Internet users were outraged by the attack on the boy -- who had a cleft palate -- in Fenxi, in the northern province of Shanxi on Monday.

"This is extraordinarily vicious," said one Sina Weibo user. "How and why could someone be so cruel?"

"A truly tragic boy," said another poster.

About 300,000 patients in China need transplants each year, but only about 10,000 people can get them due to a lack of donors, state media said.

Seven people were jailed last year when a teenager sold a kidney for an illicit transplant operation and used the proceeds to buy an iPhone and iPad.

Child organs are usually more expensive on the black market, an organ trafficker told Sina Internet news portal in 2010, as "most people think the younger the donor is, the better the quality of organs".

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.