Last Saturday, a six-year-old boy went for a walk in the city of Linfen, in China's Shanxi provence. Hours later, his parents found him covered in blood, with his eyes missing.

“The boy was lured by an unknown woman on Saturday evening into a field, where she gouged out his eyes," Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. According to the boy's mother, the six-year-old was walking outside when the woman attacked him, using some sort of tool to pry out his eyes.

Authorities initially suspected the woman was attempting to steal the boy's corneas, to sell them on the black market, but the eyes were discovered intact at the scene.

A police spokesman told the AFP that their investigation was still underway, but so far they had no theories about the woman's motive. According to the boy's mother, the family “had no disputes with anybody.” The only clue the boy offered was that the woman had an accent foreign to their provence. Authorities have offered a 100,000 yuan ($16,000) reward for the woman's capture.

The boy is in stable condition, but doctors say he'll never regain his vision. From the BBC:

"He asks why the sky is always dark... and why the dawn still hasn't come," Beijing Youth Daily quoted an uncle of the boy as saying.

"We could only tell him that his eyes had some injury and have to be bandaged.

"It is such a difficult question to explain to him. It is the most heartbreaking thing."

[Image via AP]

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