A mother in China sobbed helplessly as she watched her four-year-old son choke to death through the kindergarten’s surveillance camera.
The child’s final moments were captured live on the classroom’s CCTV, which the mother watched on her computer screen at home in Hunan province.
In footage captured on Sept. 10, the boy can be seen struggling to cough out a piece of cake that got stuck in his throat. The mother saw how her son desperately gagging and digging into his mouth in an effort to remove the cake.
As he was choking, his classmates were eating their meals, apparently oblivious to what was happening to him.
The incident remained unnoticed for about three minutes as the kindergarten teacher left the area after serving the children their lunch, according to AsiaOne.
When the teacher returned and saw what was happening, she immediately came to his aid and tried to save him by attempting to dislodge the piece of cake. The child was rushed to a hospital within eight minutes, but it was too late to save him.
The kindergarten has reportedly discussed the tragic incident with the boy’s parents, assuring them that they are taking full responsibility for it.
Back in July, a video showing a nurse and a doctor using abdominal thrusts (the Heimlich maneuver) to save a young boy from choking went viral in China.
To perform abdominal thrusts on a choking patient, a rescuer must be standing behind a patient and should use his or her hands to exert pressure on the bottom of the patient’s diaphragm.
The process aids in compressing the lungs and exerting pressure on any object lodged in the trachea, hopefully expelling it in the process.
