American Child Chokes on Jelly, Myeongdong Station Staff Save Him

On New Year's Day, subway employees at Myeongdong Station in Seoul saved a foreign child who was choking and unable to breathe after eating jelly.

According to Yonhap News Agency on the 2nd, citing Seoul Metro Corporation, a 7-year-old American child who was choking on jelly and unable to breathe was rescued through prompt emergency measures by staff at Myeongdong Station on Line 4 the previous morning.

Myeongdong Station. Yonhap News

According to Seoul Metro Corporation, at around 11:04 a.m. that day, a request came to the Myeongdong Station Customer Safety Office to assist a boy whose airway was blocked while eating jelly.

Four employees on duty at the time, including Deputy Station Manager Choi Byeong-jik and Chief Kim Beom-jun, immediately rushed to the basement first-floor concourse, where they found the 7-year-old American boy in a critical condition struggling to breathe.

After assessing the child's condition, the staff alternately performed the Heimlich maneuver emergency procedure, and fortunately, the child's breathing returned to normal. The employees monitored the child's condition while video-calling with 119 paramedics until they arrived, after which the child was transported to Seoul National University Hospital.

Ma Hae-geun, Head of the Sales Division at Seoul Metro Corporation, said, "Quickly reporting to staff when an emergency patient occurs in the subway is the way to save lives," adding, "The corporation will continue to provide emergency response training to employees to ensure the safety of citizens."

The Heimlich maneuver is an emergency procedure performed when the airway is blocked by food or foreign objects, posing a risk of suffocation. Since oxygen deprivation causes loss of consciousness within 3 minutes and brain damage begins after 5 minutes, proper emergency treatment must be administered within the golden time.

For adults, the rescuer stands behind the patient and forcefully presses upward on the abdomen with both arms or strikes the back to expel the foreign object. For infants under 12 months or weighing less than 10 kg, to reduce the risk of organ damage, emergency treatment involves positioning the infant’s head downward at a 45-degree angle, supporting the chest with one hand, and gently tapping the back about five times with the palm. Additionally, whether adult or child, if the patient loses consciousness and stops breathing during airway obstruction treatment, 119 emergency services must be called immediately, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be performed until help arrives.