Australian girl, 5, dies while eating at Deli Frankfurt on the way home from swimming lessons

A NSW family mourns the loss of their ‘beautiful’ five-year-old daughter who choked on one of her favorite snacks.

Mother Samantha Pauline-Lennon picked up her daughter Imogen from swimming lessons on January 16, as she did every other Monday.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The food that poses the biggest choking hazard to children.

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The five-year-old was “chatting” on the drive to her home in Canowindra as she was eating a Deli Frankfurt – a favorite post-swim snack – when she suddenly lost her breath.

“Despite Sam’s heroic efforts, calling an ambulance, getting the help of a passerby and finally driving Imogen to the hospital (since) the ambulance was too far away to make it in time, the beautiful Imogen later died in the hospital,” a friend of the family said Tamara Harrison.

Imogen is remembered by her mother as a “beautiful” girl who has always wanted to help loved ones say goodbye to her at a funeral service on Saturday.

“Imogen was the light of our lives – cheeky, giggly, happy, so caring and brave,” Pauline-Lennon told 7NEWS.com.au.

“[She was]excited to go to school because she wanted to be a vet so she could help animals.”

Harrison said Pauline-Lennon, her husband Bill Lennon and their three other children Hayden, Bailey and Tamzin were devastated by their loss.

“There are no words that can accurately describe how broken Imogen’s family is,” she wrote in a GoFundMe.

“It’s impossible to imagine life without Imogen.

“Anyone who knows this couple knows they are real Aussie fighters always helping others.

“They would give the shirts off their backs without a second thought if someone was in need.”

A dangerous snack

Australian paramedic and Tiny Hearts Education CEO Nikki Jurcutz issued a warning earlier this month about the potentially deadly snacks, saying hot dogs cause more choking deaths than any other food.

“If you had to design a perfect plug for a child’s airway, you couldn’t do much better than a hot dog,” a portion of the video is captioned.

“Learn how to minimize risk by simply changing the way you prepare food.”

Sausages, hot dogs and frankfurters are among the foods that pose a higher risk of choking for children under the age of five due to their skin and compressible nature, according to the New Zealand Department of Health.

The treats can squeeze into the shape of a child’s neck and get stuck there.

Health experts suggest removing the skin and shredding the sausage to add to pureed foods.

Jurcutz recommends slicing hot dogs lengthwise, rather than in circular slices, so there’s more room for the food to get into the kids’ airways.