KUALA LUMPUR — An Egyptian man waited six months after swallowing a mobile phone to seek help when he suffered from severe abdominal pain.

The man sought out Aswan University Hospital where a team of surgeons successfully removed the device following a two-hour procedure, Gulf News reported.

Checks that included X-Ray and CT-scans found a strange object in the man’s belly that led to severe inflammation in his stomach and intestines.

The patient, who was not identified, was then immediately taken to the operation theatre to undergo surgery.

Aswan University's medicine faculty dean Dr Mohammed Al Dahshouri said this was the first time he had encountered such an incident.

“It was really bizarre as the man did not reveal why he swallowed the mobile phone,” he said.

The patient, who is now in stable condition after undergoing the surgery, was told by doctors that the device had posed a great threat to his life due to the battery containing harmful chemicals.

It is not immediately known why the man had swallowed the mobile phone. MALAY MAIL