Toddler survivor of train crash to return home

Updated: 2011-12-23 15:54

(Xinhua)

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SHANGHAI - Doctors in a Shanghai-based hospital said Friday that the toddler who miraculously survived July's fatal high-speed train crash is receiving rehabilitation and will be ready to return home for the Chinese New Year.

Xiang Weiyi, who suffered serious injuries to her left leg after being pulled out of a demolished train car, has completed initial therapy and is now doing two to three hours of rehabilitation per day for her left leg, said Zhang Shuxin, her therapist at the children rehabilitation center with Xinhua Hospital under the School of Medicine at Shanghai Jiaotong University.

"As partial muscular tissue was taken out during the surgery to her leg, it takes time for her to resume stepping functions," Zhang said.

Chen Nan, a doctor with the hospital's department of rehabilitation medicine, said the two-year-old girl was very brave during the treatment.

"She had to fight the pain and itching of her wounds and has endured rehabilitation and functional electrical stimulation bravely," Chen said.

Xiang, who lost her parents in the crash, was the last survivor to be found in the wreckage after a bullet train rear-ended a stalled train on a railway in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, on July 23, killing 40 people and injuring 177.

Xiang was transferred from Wenzhou to Shanghai at the request of her uncle Xiang Yuyu, who wrote a letter to the Ministry of Railways on August 14 pleading for better treatment for his niece.

"We will never give up any hope for the girl, and our biggest wish is to help her get rid of the psychological impact of the crash and return her to a normal life," Xiang said.