Isha Sesay
A PRISONER in Mallorca has died after choking on a meatball.
The man, aged 58, had been eating his lunch in the cafeteria of Palma Penitentiary when the accident happened.
According to the Association of Penitentiary Workers, the inmate was unable to swallow one of the meatballs he was eating due to it being trapped in his airway.
Prison guards had attempted to perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre on the man after noticing that he was in difficulty.
However, their efforts proved unsuccessful as the inmate went into cardiac arrest and died minutes later.
The Association has since expressed their sincere condolences to the dead man’s family.
In a statement they said: “Unfortunately, misfortunes like this can happen in Spanish prisons.”
The case has now been passed over to Policia Nacional investigators.
It comes one week after a British expat killed himself in his jail cell on the Costa del Sol.
Leigh Anthony Gardiner, aged 51, reportedly strangled himself with his shoelaces while being held at the Alhaurin de la Torre prison.
Authorities had put Gardiner on suicide watch over fears he wanted to take his own life before facing trial for a brutal murder.
