Man undergoes surgery after fish jumps out of water and into his throat

When the man came out of the water for air, a fish leaped out of the water, into his mouth and got stuck in the windpipe. (Representative image)

A man in Thailand who went fishing caught one the most unexpected way -- in his throat.

The incident occurred on May 22 while the unidentified man was spearfishing in fresh water, reported New York Post. When the man came out of the water for air, a fish leaped out of the water, into his mouth and got stuck in the windpipe.

As it the fish wiggled further down the windpipe, it cut off the man's oxygen supply and causing him to clutch at his throat and gasp. He was rushed him to the hospital, where an X-ray revealed a spiky fish, Anabas, stuck between his throat and nasal cavity, the report said.

Doctors had to operate on the man to extract the blood-covered fish. “The chances of this happening are very low. I have never seen this kind of case before,” Sermsri Pathompanichrat, an officer at the hospital that treated the patient, told Viral Press, the New York Post reported.

“Our doctors worked hard to minimize the damage on our patient’s organs. They have successfully saved the patient.”

The patient, meanwhile, is recuperating at the hospital.

In a related incident earlier this year, a tourist was stabbed in the neck by a needlefish while he was swimming in Thailand.

The man  was apparently swimming off Ao Tan Khu beach with friends when the incident happened, New York Post reported.

The man was registered first aid and then rushed to the hospital.

Freak accidents while fishing are not unheard of. In 2020, a man barely survived after a fish leaped out of the water and impaled his neck while he was fishing in Indonesia.