A Thai man recently underwent emergency surgery to have a spiky fish removed from his throat, after it allegedly jumped out of the water and straight into his open mouth.

It sounds like the plot of a scene in a goofy comedy, but according to Thai news sources that have since been picked up by international media outlets, an angler fisherman almost choked to death after a small fish randomly jumped into his open mouth and got lodged in his throat. The unnamed man was reportedly spearfishing in a river, and just as he came up for a breath of air, a spikey Anabas fish randomly jumped out of the water and straight into his mouth. As he was in the process of inhaling, the fish got all the way into his throat where it became lodged.

The freak accident reportedly occurred on May 22 in Thailand’s Phatthalung province, and almost cost the angler his life. The small fish made breathing very difficult, but he was lucky to be noticed clutching at his neck by other people who, upon seeing that something was wrong with him, rushed the man to Phatthalung Provincial Hospital.

A team of doctors managed to save the man’s life by extracting the blood-covered fish during a one-hour operation. He has since made a full recovery and was eventually discharged.

“The chances of this happening are very low. I have never seen this kind of case before,” Dr. Sermsri Pathompanichrat told reporters. “Our doctors worked hard to minimize the damage to our patient’s organs. They have successfully saved the patient.”

While having a live fish lodged in your throat may not be the most pleasant experience, it definitely beats having one stab you in the neck…