Wood in loaf ‘almost kills’ elderly lady

AN ELDERLY woman “almost died” after a piece of wood from a loaf of village bread got stuck in her throat.

Lefkoşa resident Hatice Lisani Yentur told how her 82-year-old mother had suddenly stopped eating, put her hands to her throat and opened her eyes wide after taking a bite of a slice of bread during a meal last Thurday evening.

“A piece of wood had got stuck in [her] throat and she almost died,” she said.

“I took out the piece of wood with a pair of tweezers.”

Mrs Lisani Yentur said she had afterwards discovered two shards of wood in the supermarket-bought loaf, and called Değirmenlik Municipality when she had failed to reach anyone at the Kuru Manastır Bakery, in the village of Çukurova.

She claimed to have been told by someone at the local authority that “such things do happen at village bakeries — there’s nothing that can be done”.

Değirmenlik Municipality health official Şifa Berkant said they had intervened immediately after being told of the “unfortunate incident” and had fined the bakery after finding “a number of health contraventions” there.

Bakers’ Union chairman Ömer Çıralı said such village bakeries were supposed to have been closed down under legislation dating back to 1988, but were still in business.

He said such premises were not members of the union and they were opposed to their continuing operation.