MELBOURNE, Australia – Rescuers say an Australian kayaker broke his own leg to avoid drowning after his craft flipped over and became jammed in a tree in a surging river.
Paramedic Anthony de Wit says the man was among a group of white water rafters on the West Kiewa River in the northeast Victoria state when his kayak became stuck in a fallen tree on Sunday.
Dewit says the 38-year-old man broke two bones in his lower leg wrenching himself free.
He spent Sunday night in the river gorge being cared for by colleagues, who included a doctor, and emergency workers who hiked into the area before he was flown by helicopter out of the area on Monday.
The man was still hospitalized on Monday.
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