KOTA KINABALU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A five-year-old boy in Kota Belud in Sabah had to endure pain for five hours on Sunday (Aug 13) after his middle finger got stuck in a fidget spinner.

Medical personnel at the Kota Belud hospital had to call in the Fire and Rescue Services Department to cut off the spinner from Mohd Alfath Izwan Mohd Rosdi's swollen finger.

"He was in pain and his finger was swelling. There was no way we could take it out," said his mother Maryati Datu Jamalin.

She said her son was playing with his elder brother's toy before falling asleep on a chair in the living room after lunch on Sunday.

"At first I saw him asleep while holding the spinner. I did not even notice whether the finger was lodged inside the spinner," said Madam Maryati.

"But when he woke up around 3.30pm, he started crying in pain as his middle finger was stuck in the device."

Madam Maryati said she tried to free his finger from the spinner, including using oil and soap. "I even tried to break the spinner but I could not," she added.

She had to rush her son to the district hospital's emergency unit when his finger began to swell up.

The firemen were called in and they used a keyhole saw to cut open the spinner, she said.

Madam Maryati, who has four boys, said her seven-year-old son had bought the fidget spinner at his school.