These images show how a three-centimetre fishbone pierced through a woman’s throat and became stuck in her aorta after she swallowed a rice ball.

The incident took place in the port city of Guangzhou, which is the capital city of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, located to the north-west of Hong Kong.

The woman, named in local media reports as 68-year-old Ms Liang, sought medical attention after she swallowed a rice ball and the fishbone became stuck in her throat.

She reportedly attempted to flush the bone down her throat by swallowing more rice balls but this did not work and her pain and discomfort increased, leading her to head to hospital for help.

Doctors discovered that the bone had pierced the wall of her oesophagus as well as the inner wall of her thoracic aorta, as can be seen in a CT scan of the woman’s throat, which could have caused a significant haemorrhage within minutes, according to local media reports.

Noting that the situation was critical, the medics quickly operated on the unfortunate woman in a surgery that lasted one hour.

The three-centimetre fishbone was finally removed. The woman is believed to have made a full recovery.