Frostbite Kid Made To Shovel Snow Faces Hand Amputation

Story By: John FengSub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report   

These images show a girl’s frostbitten hands after she was forced by her school to shovel snow in the freezing cold for hours and she now faces the amputation of her swollen and blackened digits.

Lu Yanyan, 13, performed the chore with her classmates at Taipingzhuang Town Middle School, in north-eastern China’s Heilongjiang Province, where the average temperature is currently minus 10 degrees Celsius.

Picture Credit: AsiaWire

The teenager, who was reportedly not wearing gloves, swept and shovelled snow on campus for some three hours in the freezing cold until her hands went numb on 31st December, after which she told her teacher and the school finally called her mother.

She is now receiving emergency treatment at Daqing Oilfield General Hospital but has yet to regain sensation in either hand, reports said.

Yanyan told local media: “It happened because we were sweeping snow. We started sweeping snow as soon as we arrived at school in the morning.

Picture Credit: AsiaWire

“It did hurt at first, but then my hands went numb, then it stopped hurting.

“I told the teacher my hands were numb. I asked when we could finish and go inside.

“The teacher said there’s still so much snow. When did we think we could finish?”

The fingers on Yanyan’s right hand have swollen to twice their normal size, and she faces the risk of amputation if she does not recover sufficiently from frostbite in the next 10 to 15 days, reports said.

Her doctor, burn specialist Fan Weiwei, said: “She was admitted about six hours after she sustained her injuries.

“Her frostbite was the result of long-term exposure to the elements. When she arrived, the ends of her fingers were black.

“Her condition is improving, and her fingers are now a lighter shade of purple.

“The area affected by frostbite has also decreased as her digits regain colour.”

Picture Credit: AsiaWire

Yanyna’s mum, who has not been named in reports, recalled: “All the doctors in town said they didn’t dare take her case.

“They didn’t want to bear the responsibility if my daughter’s fingers fell off.

“In the end we took a taxi to Daqing Oilfield General Hospital.”

The girl’s headmaster, who was also unnamed in reports, has told local media the school was arranging with its student insurer to subsidise the girl’s medical bills.

He confirmed her injuries were a result of her shovelling snow, but added that the school had never dealt with a case like this before. The girl reportedly did not like wearing gloves, but some of her other classmates were wearing some.

He said he did not know how much responsibility the school should or would bear for her injuries, but that they would bear the necessary consequences.

It is common in China for schools to make their pupils do chores.

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