SHANGHAI, June 27 -- A LEXUS driver is believed to have choked to death on a wad of chewing gum that slipped into his trachea thanks to the big bump he received when his car was involved in a collision.

Rescuers at first ignored the driver because "the car seemed to have suffered only minor damage" in the accident at about 2am today in Shenyang, the capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, according to the Shenyang Evening News.

They put all their efforts into saving the occupants of the other car -- a cab that had been badly damaged in the collision and in which the driver and four passengers were trapped.

They were able to get the cab's driver and a female passenger out of the wreckage but they had to wait for firemen to arrive because the other three male passengers could not be rescued.

The last man to be rescued was pronounced dead after being rushed to a nearby hospital, said the report.

When firemen finally turned to the black Lexus, they found the driver has stopped breathing.

Witnesses told police they had seen two women step out of the luxury sedan and walk away right after the collision leaving the driver sitting there.

"We thought he was drunk or had lost consciousness," said one witness.

Doctors found a piece of chewing gum blocking the man's trachea after they couldn't insert a pipe into the trachea.

"Someone must have ignored the red light," police said. However, a witness, another taxi driver, told the newspaper that the Lexus had caused the tragedy.