Washington (CNN) Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill suffered a broken rib after choking at a Senate lunch Thursday, where her Senate colleague Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, performed the Heimlich maneuver to save her.

"She started choking. People cough, you think, well. And then started getting real red. 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe,' " Manchin said Monday. "I was big enough and tall enough to get some leverage on her and pick her up off her feet. I kept jerking and jerking and jerking until she said, 'You're hurting me now.' "

He continued: "I knew she could breathe then. I just go underneath her breastplate and give it all I had. ... We were all just so thankful. It was all so scary. You can't imagine."

He added that someone called 911 but the incident happened so quickly it was over before they came. The Capitol physician came to check McCaskill's vital signs and she was fine, Manchin said.

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