A fisherman almost died when a fish he had just caught jumped down his throat, British paramedics have said.
Medics from the South Western Ambulance Service were called to the pier in Boscombe on October 5, where they found a 28-year-old man having a cardiac arrest.
They were told that the man had put the six-inch Dover sole over his mouth as a joke but it had managed to wriggle free and lodged itself in his throat, leaving him unable to breath.
He was found unconscious by paramedic who performed CPR on the man.
Witness Carl Smith, 31, also fishing there at the time, said: ‘The man joked, “This sole is bite-size” and held it above his open mouth.
‘But it slipped from his fingers straight to the back of his throat.
‘He panicked, ran down the pier then hit the deck. He couldn’t talk and we knew he was choking.’
A six-inch Dover sole had lodged itself in the fisherman’s throat after he put it over his mouth as a joke (stock image)
Paramedic Matt Harrison tried to dislodge the fish with forceps but that fish’s barbs and gills got caught as it was pulled up his throat.
Eventually on a sixth attempt the fish was pulled out whole.
Mr Harrison said: ‘I have never attended a more bizarre incident and don’t think I ever will – but we’re all so glad the patient has no lasting effects from his cardiac arrest, which could so easily have had such a tragic and devastating outcome.
‘It was clear that we needed to get the fish out or this patient was not going to survive the short journey to Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
‘I used a laryngoscope to fully extend the mouth and throat and saw what appeared like an altered colour of tissue in his throat.
‘Using a McGills forceps I was able to eventually dislodge the tip of the tail and very carefully, so as not to break the tail off I tried to remove it – although the fish’s barbs and gills were getting stuck on the way back up.
‘I was acutely aware that I only had one attempt at getting this right as if I lost grip or a piece broke off and it slid further out of sight then there was nothing more that we could have done to retrieve the obstruction.’
The man, who has not been identified, has suffered ‘no lasting effects’ from the ordeal.
Medics from the South Western Ambulance Service were called to the pier in Boscombe on October 5, where they found a 28-year-old man having a cardiac arrest