The eight-year-old boy was on the receiving end of the five-centimeter needle on a 43M Citybus as he was going to school from Wah Fu Estate, Aberdeen. He was taken by ambulance to Queen Mary Hospital.

Minutes after he sat down at 7.50am on the second row of the lower deck accompanied by his mother and grandmother, he felt the pain and told his mom.

Police were called in once they alighted at Tin Wan Bus Terminus.

The boy said he felt "a little pain but no blood" and that he was "not frightened," while his grandmother said he must be "in great pain."

The incident was classified as "common assault" and "criminal damage" by officers of the Western criminal investigation department.

The injured student left the hospital around noon after the doctor had cleaned the wound, saying he felt no pain and wanted to return to school as soon as he could.

The mother didn't know the depth of the wound but believed it would heal without scar tissue, and said she will pay more attention to bus seats in the future.

On May 6, a 60-year-old woman was pricked in the back by a five-cm needle that pierced through a seat on the lower deck of a route 81 New World First Bus.

On May 2, a 40-year-old saw a similar needle embedded into a seat on Kowloon Motor Bus route 73 from Tai Po. He informed the driver and no one was injured.

A passenger in January reported finding two sewing needles punctured into the edge of a seat on the upper deck of a KMB route 601 bus. No passengers were injured.

In December, a 64-year-old man was injured by a five-cm needle in his buttocks on the lower deck of a KMB route 89 bus at Diamond Hill.

On November 25, a female passenger was hurt by a four-cm needle that was inserted into a seat on the lower deck of a route 2A NWFB bus at Quarry Bay.