Man f-eel-ing blue after op

By STAFF REPORTER
Published: 03 Aug 2010
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A FISHMONGER has told how he nearly died after he slipped into a tank of eels — and one shot straight up his bum.

Horrified Li Chang, 43 — who suffered severe internal injuries — had been sitting on the edge of the tank at his warehouse in Guangzhou, southern China, where the eels were waiting to be cooked.

But he slipped off his perch into the giant tank filled with hundreds of the writhing creatures.

Chang said: "I guess they were scared when I suddenly landed in the tank so they started wriggling everywhere.

"Several shot up my trouser leg. And then to my horror I felt one go up my bottom."

Incredibly Chang was so embarrassed that he carried on working.

He said: "I didn't say anything at first when I climbed out - I was too embarrassed. I dried myself off and tried to carry on working, but it was just too painful."

Colleagues dialled the emergency services when Chang eventually collapsed in agony.

Astonished medics carried out a five hour operation to remove the eel and repair the severe internal trauma caused by it thrashing about.

A hospital spokesman said: "The eel had badly injured the patient. If he had not arrived when he did he would have died. We expect he will make a full recovery though.

"The eel was as wide as two fingers and as long as a man's arm."