A man in south-west China had a lighter lodged in his stomach for two decades after allegedly swallowing it by mistake.

Doctors removed the plastic object inside the stomach of the 40-year-old man last week after he had gone to the hospital.

The patient decided to seek medical attention after suffering from acute stomachache and finding blood in his faeces.

According to Jiangxi Network Television, the unnamed patient went to Dujiangyan People’s Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on April 13 by himself.

Dr Qiu Changwei of the department of gastroenterology, inserted a small flexible endoscope along the man’s oesophagus and found a black rectangular object located in the stomach.

‘It measures about nine centimetres long (3.6 inches) and it’s shiny,’ said Dr Qiu.

He guessed the object could be a lighter.

Dr Qiu also found the man had open sores and bleeding in the stomach.

The patient told the medical staff that he might have accidentally swallowed a lighter in 1998, 20 years ago.

The retrieval procedure took about 10 minutes.

The man is now recovering from the operation.

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