A Hawke's Bay fisherman's feeling lucky after he was left critically injured from a stingray attack

Last month, Eli Carroll was wading out to sea with a friend at Owahanga, to drop some crayfish pots, when he accidentally stood on a sting ray.

He says a huge tail then came whipping out of the water, stabbing him twice in the thighs, with the 11 centimetre barb left embedded in his leg.

Carroll was airlifted by the rescue helicopter to the nearest facility at Palmerston North Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter Paramedic Heath Gillot says his injuries were millimetres from major vessels.