A totally bizarre incident took place in Dorset last week, when a 28-year-old man placed a fish he’d just caught over his mouth as a joke, before it wriggled free and leapt down his throat. We kid you not.
The angling enthusiast had been fishing at Boscombe Pier in Bournemouth with some friends, and he'd just caught a 14cm fish. In a misguided celebration of his hefty catch, he held it up to his mouth and kissed it, but then it slipped from his grasp and completely blocked his windpipe.
The man collapsed and had stopped breathing by the time paramedics arrived, but following the emergency medical dispatcher’s instructions on the 999 line, his friends did a good job delivering CPR while they waited for the medics to come. The emergency responders for the South Western Ambulance Service were there within just two minutes.
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The man was artificially ventilated with a bag and mask, but his airway was totally blocked and he wasn’t receiving any oxygen whatsoever.
After six attempts, paramedics, Matt Harrison and Martyn Box got the fish out of his throat and managed to get the man’s pulse back in the ambulance. Hilariously, Harrison described using a ‘McGills’ forceps to very gently remove the fish from the man’s throat by its tail, being careful not to break it off.
It wasn’t easy, as the fish’s gills and barbs kept getting stuck in the man's throat on the way back up. But when they finally got it out, it was a whole dover sole and remained in one piece.
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.’
The patient arrived at the hospital and was able to respond to some questions, and he’s now made a full recovery from the freak incident.
Moral of the story? Respect nature. All’s well that ends well I suppose, but what about the fish?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.