Teenager Allegedly Choked on Bubble Tea Pearls & Died Soon After

Last Updated on 2020-02-19 , 10:37 pm

It’s really no secret at this point that we as Singaporeans have bubble milk tea coursing through our veins.

Basically, we’ve started replacing bubble tea for water as a staple to survive.

It’s a monthly, weekly, or even daily affair for some to grab a cup of their beloved boba to help them get through the day. Chewy pearls and sweet milk with fragrant tea, what’s not to love?

I’m sure everyone’s experienced this inconvenience before.

There have, of course, been multiple times while enjoying the drink that you run into a little bit of trouble because of the pearls.

They get too clumped up together and become too thick to get sucked up the straw.

When that happens, you suddenly feel like you’re exerting enough sucking power to suck up the entire world but the pearls STILL don’t move any further up, and it’s so frustrating.

Suddenly, all at once, it all shoots up and attacks you like little pellets in your mouth, and sometimes, it may even shoot directly into your throat and cause you to choke for a little while.

It all sounds like a fun game of risks, but let me be a buzzkill here: Maybe you’d like to know that this little risk could possibly actually kill you.

Like it did this girl.

Bubble Tea Disaster

Apparently, a 19-year-old girl in China was on her way to a friend’s house with her brother on 30 June.

She had bought a cup of bubble tea to savour on the journey there.

But by the time they arrived at the house, the girl had difficulty breathing and her hands had even started turning black as a sign that there was a lack of oxygen in her body.

When they rushed her to the hospital, she passed out on the way. Doctors performed CPR on her after she arrived.

Unfortunately, nothing helped and she passed away.

Choked On Pearls

It was later revealed that the girl had trouble sucking up the pearls.

And like most of us, she believed might is everything.

So she sucked hard on her drink and the drain unclogged. Three pearls shot up at once and entered her trachea.

This caused her airway to be blocked, effectively cutting off her airflow and choking her.

Did you know that it only takes one large pearl to be able to choke someone and cause their death if it gets stuck inside their airway?

The girl, unfortunately, had three of them.

What You Can Do

In order to prevent pearls from getting stuck in throats and causing danger, it’s also highly recommended for children and the elderly to drink it from cups instead of straws.

This will help reduce the risk of choking via bubble tea pearls and you’ll have an easier time swallowing.

It’s really sad how a common routine of drinking bubble tea could have caused someone’s unexpected death, all because of one single decision.

So do remember to be careful whenever consuming bubble milk tea and always chew your pearls properly before swallowing.