A man who nearly choked to death on his dinner at a hotpot restaurant had his life saved by a doctor who happened to be sitting at the next table by using the Heimlich manoeuvre.

The incident was captured on CCTV cameras an eatery in Baoji, in Shaanxi, China, at around 9 pm on April 21.

In the video, a man could be seen nervously walking around his chair apparently trying to get the food to go down with a drink.

But the attempt seemed to have failed as the next second he was seen pointing to his throat and slapping his chest in panic, alerting those near him that he was choking.

A man who sat at a nearby table then stood up and began giving him the Heimlich.

However, the action appeared to have exhausted him and he let two other men take over, with the second one finally being able to get the man to spit out the chunk.