Woman fatally impaled through eye by metal drinking straw: Report

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Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Woman fatally impaled through eye by metal drinking straw
A coroner is urging people to use metal straws with caution after a woman was impaled through the eye by a straw that was sticking out of a glass jar she was carrying.

BROADSTONE, England -- We talk a lot about plastic and paper straws, but a woman in England died after she fell onto a metal drinking straw that impaled her eye, according to a newspaper in the U.K.

The 60-year-old woman collapsed while carrying a mason jar-style drinking glass with a screw-top lid in her kitchen.

According to The Daily Echo, the stainless steel straw entered her eye socket and pierced her brain.

The woman's death has led to a coroner warning that metal drinking straws should never be used with a lid that holds them in place.

Assistant coroner Brendan Allen said that "if the lid hadn't been in place, the straw would have moved away."

Eco-friendly straws have increased in popularity with plastic straw bans sweeping the U.S.

"Clearly great care should be taken when using these metal straws," said Allen. "There is no give to them at all."