A two-year-old Indian-origin boy died after choking on a grape while sitting and watching television at his home in Leicester, a court has heard.
Jenil Sharma was eating the fruit - his favourite food - in the lounge of the family home in Wand Street, Belgrave, Leicester, on February 24, when the tragedy happened.
The boy, who was the only child of Mayur Sharma and wife Kruti, was pronounced dead at Leicester Royal Infirmary after efforts to revive him failed.
The heartbroken couple were at Leicester Town Hall for their son's inquest yesterday, following the proceedings with the help of a Gujarati interpreter, the Leicester Mercury reported.
Detective Constable Joseph Masarella, of Leicestershire police, gave Kruti's account of what happened.
He said it was routine for police to be involved following the unexpected death of a child, but stressed there were "no suspicious circumstances, whatsoever" in Jenil's death.
"Jenil had been eating grapes from a bowl in the living room and watching TV with his seven-year-old cousin, while Mrs Sharma was in the kitchen preparing food. She heard him make a strange sound and went to the door, where his cousin said a grape had stuck in Jenil's throat," Masarella told the court.
"Mrs Sharma tried to reach it but was unable to. She put the boy over her lap and gently slapped his back to dislodge the grape but was unsuccessful. From there, she ran to get help from neighbours and passers-by, but none were able to," he said.
Jenil's cousin telephoned relatives, who contacted the ambulance service at 5.45pm (local time). An ambulance arrived 10 minutes later, the inquest heard.
Paramedics quickly removed the grape using a specialist tool but, by then, Jenil had stopped breathing and gone into cardiac arrest. Efforts to resuscitate the youngster continued en-route to hospital.
Dr Samantha Jones, consultant in paediatric emergency medicine at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said the ambulance arrived at 6.07 pm, where her emergency team was waiting.
"Jenil was very pale and there was a blueness to his skin, which suggested oxygen was not getting to where it needed to," she said.
Resuscitation efforts continued for more than 20 minutes, but she then took the decision continued efforts were "futile" and it was stopped at 6.29 pm, she said.
A report prepared by Dr Jones stated Jenil's death was due to cardio-respiratory arrest.
