Child Trapped Under Snow for 10 Hours Saved

On January 19, at 16:20, the Aragatsotn regional crisis management center received a report that citizens had climbed a mountain near the village of Dzoraglukh and were unable to descend due to bad weather conditions and deep snow. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the assistance of rescuers was necessary. Rescuers managed to find two citizens, one of whom was a 17-year-old boy.

The boy’s father, Arman B., told armtimes.com that the family is from the village of Dzoraglukh and had lived in the Khovsakan community of Artsakh’s Kashatagh region for the past 7 years. However, due to the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the family lost their home and relocated back to Dzoraglukh, where they live in a relative's house. ‘Our house in Khovsakan passed to the Azerbaijani side, so we returned to our native village to start all over again. That day, my son had climbed the mountain with a relative to help bring down 19 horses. He had informed me, and I knew he was with his horse. Later, he called me, explained his location, and said a snowstorm had begun and that he was lost. He was on horseback but started walking on foot, losing his sense of direction due to the snow,’ said the father.

The father recounted that the search operations for the boy began with the village youth. After finding the boy, they were taken to an ambulance and then to the Aparan Medical Center. Doctors assessed his condition as critical.

Varuzhan Sargsyan, a rehabilitologist at Yerevan's Surb Astvatsamayr Medical Center who also works at the Aparan Medical Center and is treating the boy, stated in an interview with the media that upon being taken to the hospital, the boy was in a state of ‘clinical death’ due to cardiac and respiratory arrest. The medical team fought for his life for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. ‘When the boy was transported, his brain was still preserved. For 15 minutes, we – the resuscitators and all the medical staff – began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This is done in rare cases because resuscitation typically lasts 30-40 minutes; if the condition doesn’t improve after that time, we cease resuscitation. But resuscitation continued because the pupils showed slight dilation, and the brain was still preserved,’ explained Sargsyan.

After resuscitation, the boy's heart function was restored, and he was put on assisted ventilation. Twelve hours later, he regained consciousness and was taken off the ventilator. ‘Now he is engaging actively. He understands what is happening and recounts his experience. All reflexes are preserved; only his legs and hands exhibit signs of second-degree frostbite. There are minor frostbite spots that have already been treated. His hemodynamics are stable,’ added the doctor.

According to rehabilitologist Varuzhan Sargsyan, this is one of the rare cases when a person trapped under snow for 10 hours and suffering from frostbite is transferred to a hospital, and it is possible to save their life, fully restoring their condition. The boy is expected to remain in the hospital for 5 days. If no complications with organs develop, he will be discharged.

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