LONDON – A two-year-old Indian-origin child choked to death when a grape he was eating at his home in Britain got lodged in his throat, an inquest heard.
Jenil Sharma, the only child of Mayur Sharma and Kruti, choked on a grape he was eating while watching TV in his family home in Leicester in Britain’s East Midlands Feb 24 this year, Leicester Mercury reported Thursday.
The two-year-old was pronounced dead at Leicester Royal Infirmary after efforts to revive him failed.
Coroner Donald Coutts-Wood recorded a verdict of accidental death Wednesday at Leicester Town Hall, after an inquest hearing ended into the death of a “happy, intelligent little boy”, as described by the parents.
During the inquest proceeding, the police said: “Jenil had been eating grapes from a bowl in the living room and watching TV with his seven-year-old cousin, while Mrs Sharma was in the kitchen preparing food.
“She heard him make a strange sound and went to the door, where his cousin said a grape had stuck in Jenil’s throat.”
“Mrs Sharma tried to reach it but was unable to. She put the boy over her lap and gently slapped his back to dislodge the grape but was unsuccessful,” police said.
Police, however, stressed that there were “no suspicious circumstances, whatsoever” in Jenil’s death.
Speaking after the inquest, the parents said they were devastated by the loss of their only child.
“Jenil was a very happy baby — curious, sharp and intelligent for his age. We will miss him terribly,” the father said.
An ambulance reached the scene in ten minutes, after Jenil’s cousin contacted the emergency service through her relatives.
Paramedics quickly removed the grape using a specialist tool but, by then, Jenil had stopped breathing and gone into cardiac arrest.
Efforts to resuscitate the youngster continued en-route to hospital.
A report prepared by Samantha Jones, consultant in paediatric emergency medicine at Leicester Royal Infirmary, stated Jenil’s death was due to cardio-respiratory arrest, caused by a lack of oxygen, in turn caused by “an obstruction in the throat caused by a foreign body”. — IANS