A six-year-old boy has been hospitalised and is unconscious and on a ventilator after he choked on a jelly bean.

The boy was walking with his mother in Ashdod, a city in Israel, when he started coughing before choking and losing consciousness.

Passers-by called medics, who took him to the Assuta Ashdod Hospital for treatment after failing to remove the jellybean from his windpipe.

The young boy was reportedly stabilised and transferred to intensive care, where he was given an anaesthetic and put on a ventilator.

He reportedly suffered swelling to his lungs, as can be seen in the photograph, according to local media.

Dr Noa Rosenfeld, director of Assuta’s paediatric intensive care unit, told local media: “This is a very unfortunate case that can happen to any child.”

The doctor said that they would need to wait a few days before finding out if the child, who has not been named, has suffered any lasting problems and how serious they are.

The doctor said: “In the coming days, we will know how severe the complications are. Unfortunately, this is not the first case in which we must provide lifesaving medical care to a child who chokes on candy or other foreign objects.”

He warned parents about the dangers of giving hard candy to children and leaving them unsupervised, saying: “My conclusion is that one should avoid as much as possible giving candy, certainly hard, in large quantities to young children and in any case not leave them alone with the candy.

“A brief moment of satisfaction can lead to serious damage”