Houston Community News >> Taiwan Woman Choke on Plum and Teeth

9/22/2007 Taipei - A Taiwanese woman has died from suffocation after choking on a plum and her false teeth while swimming in a pool, a newspaper said on Sunday. Chen Pao-chu, 78, a regular swimmer for 12 years at a swimming pool in Taichung, central Taiwan, fainted while swimming on Thursday, the United Daily News said.

A lifeguard brought Chen out of the pool and found that she had choked on a plum - without the stone - and one row of her false teeth. Chen, unconscious, was rushed to hospital and she died on Saturday.

Chen's son said that his mother has been swimming at that swimming pool, which is only 110 centimetres deep, for 12 years. Sometimes she felt thirsty, so she would chew a plum when she went swimming.

He believed that his mother choked on the plum while swimming and when she was struggling to breathe, her false teeth dislodged and one row of dentures also got caught in her throat, causing her to suffocate, the paper said.

Contributed by Earthtimes.org