From correspondents in Beijing, China, 01:32 AM IST

Doctors in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing have cut a bullet out of a woman's face 42 years after it lodged there, media reports said Friday.

The 3.3-centimetre bullet was removed from He Wenying, 65, Thursday at a hospital in the city, the Chongqing Evening News reported.

The bullet apparently hit He when it ricocheted through a thin wall during a fight in 1967 between rival factions of Red Guards amid the communist fundamentalism of the early Cultural Revolution.

The stray bullet lodged in the right side of He's face between her jaw and ear.

It was first found by doctors in He's remote home town in 1978, but surgery failed to remove it because of the poor medical conditions at the local hospital at the time, the newspaper said.

After complaining of pain in her face and head for 30 years, He finally sought medical help again last week when the pain worsened and spread to her whole body, it said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)