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The tragic incident took place on Tuesday in Madurantakam, when the victim, identified as 29-year-old daily labourer Manikandan, had gone for fishing alone.
Manikandan was a daily wage worker who often fished in the lake. (Representative image)
In a shocking incident, a man in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai died while fishing at a lake when a fish, he had put in his mouth for safe-keeping, got stuck in his throat and choked him.
The tragic incident took place on Tuesday in Madurantakam, when the victim, identified as 29-year-old daily labourer Manikandan, had gone for fishing alone, the Times of India reported.
An expert at catching fish by hand, Manikandan usually fished with friends, but on Tuesday, he had gone alone and thus had nobody to hold the fish. As per the report, citing the police, he caught a few fish with his bare hands, but since he had nowhere to keep the catch, he put one into his mouth while attempting to catch more with his free hand. The fish in his mouth, however, wiggled into his throat and got stuck in his windpipe.
According to the police, as Manikandan tried to get it out, the fish got stuck in his airways, leaving him struggling to breathe. He rushed out of the water and attempted to remove the fish. He then began to rush home but collapsed on the way, the police said.
After the locals noticed him, they tried to pull the fish — identified locally as ‘panangottai’ — out of Manikandan’s throat. However, they found that the fish’s sharp fins had gotten lodged in his windpipe. The locals later took him to Chengalpet Government Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him “brought dead,” the report added.