Whistle Removed From Chinese Man 20 Years After He Swallowed It When He Was Six Years Old
This is the whistle that was removed from a Chinese man 20 years after he swallowed it when he was six years old.
The incident took place in Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province when the man, surnamed Lin, 26, went to hospital to be treated for pneumonia.
He told doctors there swallowed a whistle accidentally when he was a young boy and that he had never had it removed.
He said that he had been too afraid to tell anyone at the time because he was he was scared his parents would tell him off.
The man, who has repeatedly suffered with pneumonia, had a computerised tomography (CT) scan and the whistle was found in his bronchus, a large airway.
After minimally invasive surgery when the man’s bronchus was cut open, in a process that lasted about 20 minutes, the whistle was successfully removed.
Netizens were shocked, with the hashtag corresponding to the incident being viewed over 190 million times on Sina Weibo.
These images show the whistle when it was in the man’s bronchus as well as after it had been removed by doctors.
It is unclear why Li waited so long before seeking medical assistance.
