A New Zealand rugby union player was being hailed a hero Tuesday after saving a woman from choking -- even though he broke her rib in the process.
Jamie Mackintosh, the captain of Super 15 outfit the Highlanders, was dining at a restaurant in Dunedin earlier this month when a woman seated nearby got a piece of steak stuck in her throat and starting gasping for air, the Otago Daily Times reported.
The woman, 44-year-old Wendy Knight, said she left her table in a panic and began to feel lightheaded when the 6-foot-4 (192cm), 282lb (128kg) prop forward came up from behind her and performed the Heimlich maneuver on her, dislodging the meat.
"I thought I was going to die ... I really did," said Knight, who is still nursing a cracked rib from the encounter. "He probably saved my life. I didn't know who it was. I didn't know where they came from ... I didn't even get a chance to say thanks."
Mackintosh, who was having dinner with teammates at the time, said he did not have any medical training but did know how to help someone who was choking.
"I got in behind her and it was like a great big grizzly bear mauling some kind of small animal," the 26-year-old professional rugby player said.
"I obviously buggered it up if I cracked her rib."
