More than two minutes without oxygen for the 22-year-old who swallowed a burger

The next 24 hours are considered particularly critical for the 22-year-old student who swallowed an entire burger and is currently hospitalized on a ventilator.

The incident occurred in Koropi, when the 22-year-old swallowed a whole burger without chewing it, reportedly as part of a challenge with friends, although information about this remains unclear.

As a result, the burger blocked his airway, and he is now fighting for his life in the Intensive Care Unit, facing potentially irreversible damage.

His friends said the young man panicked and collapsed shortly afterward. Paramedics from the National Emergency Aid Centre (EKAV) rushed to the scene and attempted to revive him, as witnesses reported that he had not been breathing for more than two minutes.

According to public broadcaster ERT, the student was urgently transported to “Gennimatas” Hospital, where he remains intubated in the ICU. Doctors are struggling to stabilize his condition, as significant damage has been caused to vital organs.

The president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN), Michalis Giannakos, stated that everyone is now hoping for a miracle, as the situation appears to be irreversible.

“He had something like a panic attack – There was no challenge”

A friend who was with the 22-year-old described the incident to Mega TV, insisting that no challenge had taken place.

“He had something like a panic attack. He gets up and runs a bit further away, we thought he was going to spit it out and didn’t want to make a mess around others. He didn’t do that. He makes a move to come back and then goes away again to spit it out. We thought, ‘Okay, now it’s coming.’ That didn’t happen either,” he said.

He added: “Then he starts coming back again, and the moment we realized something was wrong was when he was hitting his back against a column, probably trying to spit it out or something.

Everyone ran to give him first aid, one of us is a lifeguard and another works as crew on a sailing boat. It’s something we’ve done many times before: for him to put the whole thing in his mouth in one bite. There was no challenge, nothing. It was something he did often. He just said, ‘Look.’ If you want to call it something, call it a joke”.