Manila: An 11-year-old boy died in Siquijor, central Philippines, after a fish he caught fell into his mouth accidentally, choking him to death.
Reports reaching Manila said the boy, identified as Jeck Ian Carillo, was fishing with his friends by the side of a river last Sunday afternoon in Olang village in Maria town, when he caught a lizard fish, locally called “tuko-tuko.”
The fish was thrashing about wildly in his hands and to stop it from moving, he tried to take a bite at its head to finish it of. But as the boy was opening his mouth, the creature leapt and jammed itself down his throat.
Siquijor Provincial Police Office deputy chief Enrique Belciña was quoted in a report by the daily Sunstar, that Jeck’s friends tried to get the fish out from his mouth, to no avail.
Elders who were alerted to the incident rushed the boy to the local health centre but it was already too late, Jeck was already dead on arrival.
The lizard fish is so called because of its narrow profile, which makes it agile. A typical adult is a little more than a palm’s length in size. It possesses several sharp protrusions around its mouth that serve as teeth.
According to fishingthephilippines.com, lizard fish are common throughout the islands and are considered a pest.
Colourful and appealing, it is a bottom dweller and has little value as a food source. However, it is used as bait to catch larger fish.
Fish remains the main source of nutrition in coastal and riverside areas in remote parts of the country.
