Life-Safety Intelligence for India
A piece of food can block the airway in seconds. These videos show restaurant owners, staff and friends who noticed someone struggling and acted at once, most often with the Heimlich manoeuvre. A choking person often cannot call...
Ordinary People. Extraordinary Impact.
0:18Hotpot restaurant manager clears a choking diner with the Heimlich manoeuvre in WeifangChina
0:56Friends and other diners help a man whose egg got stuck in his throat at a hotel
1:36Pizza restaurant staff save a choking customer in Fremont, New HampshireUnited States
0:35Restaurant owner saves a choking man with the Heimlich manoeuvre in IstanbulTurkey
0:24Waitress and nursing student performs the Heimlich manoeuvre on a guestUnited States
0:58Restaurant owner helps a choking customer in El MonteUnited States
1:54Restaurant owner helps a choking customer with the Heimlich manoeuvre
1:21Truck driver saves a choking woman on a highwayUnited StatesA piece of food can block the airway in seconds. These videos show restaurant owners, staff and friends who noticed someone struggling and acted at once, most often with the Heimlich manoeuvre. A choking person often cannot call out, so noticing the silent signs is half the rescue.
What can you safely do? Ask whether the person is choking. If they can cough or speak, encourage them to keep coughing. If they cannot cough, speak or breathe, lean them forward and give up to five firm back blows between the shoulder blades. If that fails, stand behind them, place a fist between the navel and the breastbone and give up to five sharp inward and upward thrusts. Repeat, call 112 if it does not clear, and start CPR if the person becomes unresponsive. Do not poke a finger blindly into the mouth. Babies under one year need back blows and chest thrusts, not abdominal thrusts.
These videos are not first-aid training, and watching one is no substitute for a course where you practise on a manikin. We pick public YouTube videos that match a reported incident and can be played here, and we avoid graphic footage. Where a lesson goes beyond what the video shows, we mark it as general guidance. Our guides on basic first aid and on child emergencies at home and school are linked at the bottom of this page.
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