Teenage boy nearly dies after live EEL gets trapped in his throat for 5 hours

A teenage boy nearly died after swallowing a live eel

The 16-year-old was left struggling to breathe after the slippery eel became trapped in his windpipe

A teenage boy nearly died after swallowing a live eel that lodged in his
 windpipe for five hours, doctors have revealed.


The unnamed 16-year-old boy had been fishing in Bangladesh when he caught
 a 6.5 inch long Guchi Bail - Indian spiny eel - and placed it between his
 teeth.


Unfortunately the eel slipped out of his mouth and down his throat,
 according to the UK-based science journal BioMed Central.


The youngster ran back to his house where his family saw the fish inside
 his throat and frantically tried to pull it out only for it to slip further
 down.


He began having breathing problems and was taken to Dhaka Medical College
 Hospital where doctors examined his throat but could not see the fish.


They decided to carry out an emergency operation in which they cut a hole
 in the front of his neck and inserted a tube into his windpipe to help him
 breathe.


Five hours after the accident had occurred, doctors spotted the tail fin of
 a fish through the hole they had created in his windpipe.


They were able to grab it with a pair of forceps and pull the fish out
 which by now was dead.


The boy's surgeon Kanu Sana later said: "This is the second case I have
 come across to date.
"

The other was a 45-year-old man who came from a rural village about 300
 kilometres away.


'It was 12 hours after he swallowed the fish. Unfortunately he didn't
 survive."