Boys eyes 'removed with spoon'

PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL

A five-year-old is boy airlifted to hospital after his eyes were allegedly prised from his head with a spoon.

Mexican police say the child's parents carried out the grisly act during a satanic ritual in Mexico City.

Paramedics say they were called by officers to a house early on Thursday.

SOUNDBITE: ADRIAN URIBE, PARAMEDIC, SAYING (Spanish):

"They said that, using a spoon, they took out both his eyeballs. We arrived at the scene and upon making contact with the child, it was determined that his right eyeball was gone. The one on the left side was there but out of the socket."

Police said a baby and a nine-year-old boy, brothers of the injured child, had been removed from the house.

Seven suspects, including the children's parents, are in police custody.

Paul Chapman, Reuters