90-year-old Israeli man chokes to death on Hanukkah doughnut

Paramedics say nonagenarian was attending holiday candlelighting when a piece of dough became lodged in his throat

By ToI Staff 4 December 2018, 12:29 am

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Doughnuts (sufganiyot) on sale at Marzipan bakery in Jerusalem, for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. December 16, 2014. (Hadas Parush/FLASH90)

A 90-year-old man in central Israel choked to death on a doughnut during a Hanukkah candlelighting ceremony Monday evening.

Magen David Adom paramedics called to the community in the Shfela region southeast of Tel Aviv, said they dislodged a piece of dough stuck in the man’s throat, but were unable to revive him.

The man, who was attending a candlelighting ceremony at his local synagogue, was declared dead at the scene.

In a statement, the MDA warned that the jelly-filled doughnut, a Hannukah tradition, could be a choking hazard for children and the elderly.

On Sunday, MDA said paramedics were called to a Bnei Brak home to treat a 95-year-old man who choked on a doughnut. The unconscious man was taken to the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, and was said to be in stable condition on Monday.