China: Man swallows 18cm BBQ skewer in Nanjing

A 23-year-old man who swallowed an 18cm BBQ skewer has had it removed from his stomach after a month of agony.

Chinese language media reported that the man was taken to hospital by his parents weeks after swallowing the skewer during China's Spring Festival.

Doctors were able to extract the skewer at a hospital in the man's home city of Nanjing "in just a few minutes" reported Shanghaiist, an English-language news portal.

It is not the first time that Chinese doctors have had to remove a foreign object from inside a patient after a long period of time.

Shanghai Daily reported in 2013 that a 57-year-old man in Changdu, China's south-east province, had survived for nine months with a 5cm piece of chopstick embedded in his nose.

The paper reported that the man had been trying to pick up his grandson when he slipped and fell on the chopstick, which entered his eye before breaking off.

The patient, who was identified as Wen, said that he "was tipsy" when he pulled the chopstick out and did not realise part of it had snapped off.

He said that the injury was "only uncomfortable when he winked".