Doctors at a hospital in New Delhi, India, were left stunned following the discovery of a live 3 cm cockroach in the small intestine of a patient who came in with complaints of stomach ache and indigestion.

According to reports, the patient, a 23-year-old man, was recently admitted to the Fortis Hospital after reportedly experiencing severe abdominal pain for three days, which also caused difficulty in digesting food.

Following consultation, it was theorized that his issues stemmed from the consumption of contaminated street food at a night market he visited days before.

It’s understood that doctors decided that the best move was to conduct an Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Endoscopy, which is a procedure that examines the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract to find out what exactly was causing the man such agony.

It was during the procedure that they stumbled on the bizarre sight of a live cockroach in the man’s small intestine.

“For the last two or three days, the patient was suffering from indigestion and bloating after eating food. It was during routine inspections that we incidentally spotted the cockroach,” Dr Shubham Vatsya told the Indian Express newspaper. “Even we were surprised as to how the cockroach managed to remain intact.”

The doctors moved swiftly to extract the insect from the man’s body using an endoscope with two channels — one for air and water infusion and the other for air suction, according to the report.

“We activated the suction button on the scope, effectively sucking the cockroach into the suction channel, leading to its removal from the body and saving the man’s life,” said Dr Vatsya explained, adding that failing to remove the insect as fast as possible could have caused serious complications, including infectious diseases.

Theorising how the bug got into the man’s body, The gastroenterologist speculated that it could’ve crawled down his throat as he slept or that he accidentally swallowed it when visiting the night market.