A 50-year-old man, undergoing radiotherapy treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue base, was admitted for pain control and nasogastric tube feeding. This patient required multiple nasogastric tubes over a two-week period. The patient repeatedly denied pulling the nasogastric tube out and we were unable to establish the exact mode of nasogastric tube removal. On one such occasion another tube was inserted and a check X-ray showed two feeding tubes; the latest one was lying in the left main bronchus and the old nasogastric tube was observed in the oesophagus, with its upper end jutting above the hypopharynx. It was apparent that the patient had somehow cut the tube and swallowed it.