Ice trap teenager amazes doctors

Canadian doctors were in awe of a Hong Kong student's will to live after he was trapped for more than two hours under a heavy trailer in freezing water during a severe snow storm in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Plains Medical Centre doctors in Regina told the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who were involved in Wednesday's rescue operation, that 14-year-old Chan Ken-ji had made a 'miraculous and speedy' recovery from critical to good condition yesterday.

'The centre staff were pretty impressed,' said Mountie Manley Burleigh.

'Two hours in sub-zero waters were enough to kill most people. The boy obviously had a very strong will to live.' Ken-ji, who speaks no English, was on a student exchange programme in the Canadian province when the car in which he and his aunt Carmen Choi Chan were travelling slid off the icy Trans-Canada Highway.

He and other occupants of the car were trying to push the car back on to the road when a truck hit it and pinned Ken-ji under the trailer in an icy ditch.

Rescue workers battled for two hours - with his aunt and a cousin serving as translators - before pulling him out.

He suffered severe hypothermia and a broken leg.

Mr Burleigh said Ken-ji had been studying in the province for two months. He did not know if he would continue with his exchange programme or return to Hong Kong.

Ms Chan could not be reached for comment yesterday.