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A 10-year-old boy in Malaysia died after choking on an eyeball-shaped gummy, his family said.
Mohamad Fahmi Hafiz, a fourth grader, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a local hospital after he collapsed at his school in Penang state on the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia.
His aunt, Siti Farhani Mohamad Fikri, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that her nephew had purchased the candy from a shop near the school and choked on it shortly after consuming it, The Straits Times reported.
The incident occurred at about 2.30pm on Tuesday. The boy was walking with his classmates to the toilet when he suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed, North Seberang Perai police assistant commissioner Anuar Abdul Rahman said.
The classmates informed their teacher, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the pupil but was unable to bring him to consciousness.
Police said it was only after he arrived at the Seremban Jaya Hospital that the candy was removed from Fahmi’s throat. The boy had slipped into a coma by then.
He was referred to the Penang General Hospital where he was in the intensive care unit for two days before being declared dead on Thursday night.
The boy’s father, Mohamad Fakhruddin Mohamad Fikri, 35, broke down as he told local news outlet Bharian that he couldn’t believe his son was gone.
He said his son went away as if “he was asleep”.
Police said they would investigate the death.
The incident sparked anger over the unregulated sale of such candies near school premises with many calling on educational institutions to keep a watch.
The Consumers Association of Penang, a local nonprofit, said such candies were sold in bright packaging to appeal to children, with few checks on expiry dates and levels of sugar and other toxic ingredients such as food colouring and flavour enhancers.
The organisation demanded stricter regulation to prevent the sale of junk food to children.
In January last year, a three-year-old child in California, US, was left permanently paralyzed after choking on a gummy candy. The parents later filed a lawsuit against Frankford Candy Co of Pennsylvania and Hasbro toy company of Rhode Island for allegedly failing to warn of choking hazards.
