"Joking deckhand chokes to death on bait"

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A charter boat deckhand trying to make a
group of California schoolchildren laugh has choked to death on a bait
fish he put in his mouth.

Capt. Dan Salas of the 55-foot Gail Force said Tuesday that deckhand
Jeff Twaddle died last week off Long Beach in front of about 20
elementary school students from the Los Angeles area. He called it a
"tragic freak accident."

Authorities say the 54-year-old longtime fisherman was trying to "make
the students laugh" when he popped the fish in his mouth. It lodged in
his throat and Twaddle quickly lost consciousness. He was pronounced
dead at a hospital.

School officials sent a note to parents and were providing grief
counselors for students.

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