A man has nearly died a completely tragic death after an entire fish jumped down his throat and caused a complete blockage.

According to a report by Metro UK, a 28-year-old man nearly died after a whole fish jumped down his windpipe and caused a complete blockage of his throat.

Paramedics raced to save the young man’s life after he collapsed and stopped breathing at Boscombe pier in Dorset earlier this month.

The man, who has not been identified, went into cardiac arrest after the entire 14cm Dover sole got stuck in his throat and blocked his airway in a prank that went wrong.

Desperate friends performed CPR while they waited for paramedics to arrive. Martyn Box, an operations officer, said: ‘Initially we didn’t know the true extent of the situation or what the patient was choking on, but as we questioned them further we were told he had a whole fish stuck in his windpipe.

‘Initially we didn’t know the true extent of the situation or what the patient was choking on.’

Further assessment of his airway indicated that despite artificially ventilating him with a bag and mask his chest remained silent.

This suggested there was total airway occlusion and despite best efforts the man was not receiving any oxygen.

Paramedic Matt Harrison said: ‘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.’

He said: ‘Using forceps I was able to eventually dislodge the tip of the tail and 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 to retrieve the obstruction.’

Eventually after six attempts the fish came out in one piece.

Mr Harrison added: ‘I have never attended a more bizarre incident and don’t think I ever will – but we’re all so glad the patient has no lasting effects from his cardiac arrest, which could so easily have had such a tragic and devastating outcome.’