A man almost died after a fish jumped down his throat.

Man almost dies after fish jumps down his throat

Man almost dies after fish jumps down his throat

The 28-year-old gentleman - whose identity is not yet known - stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest after the 14cm aquatic animal, which he had just caught with his rod, lunged into his mouth on Boscombe pier in Dorset on October 5.

The paramedics arrived within minutes and managed to get the man's heart beating again but, despite using artificial ventilation, they couldn't get oxygen into his lungs.

Martyn Box, from South Western Ambulance Service (SWAS), told Sky News: ''We were told he had a whole fish stuck in his windpipe. 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. 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... Eventually after six attempts the fish came out in one piece and to our amazement it was a whole Dover sole, measuring approximately 14cm in length.''

The patient has made a full recovery.