When 3-year-old Pragian and his 4-year-old sister, Hitanshi, from Vrindavan, started to paint their stomach in pain earlier this month, his parents thought that it was just a stomach bug.

Within 48 hours, both children were on the operating table in Faridabad, fighting for their lives after swallowing the small toy magnets purchased online.

Doctors at Amrita Hospital, Faridabad performed back-to-back marathon surgery to save them. The Pragion held ten magnets under his intestines simultaneously, tearing the holes in eight places, while Hitanshi had six magnets in his stomach, causing the tissue to die and holes.

“It was one of the most difficult situations we have faced,” Dr. Nitin Jain, Senior Advisor, Pediatric Surgery, Amrita Hospital, Faridabad said, who managed both cases and called Magnet a ‘silent killer’.

“Unlike coins or buttons, which usually cause obstruction, magnets quietly damage tissue from within. A single small magnet often passes through the body without any problem, but when many magnets swallow, they can come in different parts of the intestine and snap together between intestinal walls. Sepsis,” Dr. Jain said.

A global health crisis

These brother -in -law are not alone. The growing body of global data shows harassing the magnets in children, often marketing as educational or fidgate plaset by toys.

The worldwide cases review (2002–2024) documentation of thousands of incidents, in which the US alone reports 23,756 suspected magnets ingestion – globally the highest.

A multi-country study in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey found that children swallowed many magnets faced higher rates of serious complications, including bowel holes and life-threatening infections.

Doctors in India say that the situation reflects the global pattern, in recent years, more children are taken to hospitals with swallowed magnets.

Why are magnets so dangerous?

Unlike single -swallowing objects, which often pass through the intestine, many magnets can lodge in different parts of the stomach and intestines. They then snap together on the intestinal walls, crushing the tissue in the middle. The damage as a result of blood supply leads to rapid necrosis (tissue death), holes and severe infections.

In the case of Pragion, Magnett destroyed their duodenum – the first part of the small intestine – complex reconstruction surgery is required. Hitanshi accepted a day later, a similar life -saving intervention was required.

Parents of Pragan and Hitanshi said, “We never imagined these toys, believing that they were safe, that they could bring us so close to lose their two children.”

Doctors warn that the symptoms may not appear immediately, which makes the risk even more insidious. Children are often present with vomiting, abdominal pain, or swelling, symptoms are easily wrong for abdominal infection.

What parents need to know

Avoid the toys with viosual magnets. Online marketing is done with many clear security warnings.

If the magnet ingestion is suspected, then immediately pay attention. Waiting for symptoms can be fatal.

Policy intervention is required. Doctors argue for strict rules on toy safety, clear warnings for parents, and ban high-power magnetic toys for children.

After weeks’ intensive care, prehon and Hitanshi are discharged, but their predecessors throw light on a large public health problem.