Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services

Arctic Bay (Oct 29/01) - A 14-year-old boy whose foot was crushed in an afternoon ATV accident is recovering in an Ottawa hospital.

Wayne Taqtu was riding on the front of the four-wheeler when it smashed into a truck Sunday Oct. 21. "He's doing OK, but it's hard to be so far away," said the injured teen's mother, Sarah Taqtu, from Arctic Bay.

It was Taqtu's 25-year-old brother, Danny, who accompanied the injured teen south.

Surgeons reset the boy's foot last week. Skin grafts were to follow.

"He was in a lot of pain before the surgery. He's doing better now," she said.

Sarah was returning from a family weekend on the land when she was told her second-youngest son was heading south for treatment. Regular phone contact has been maintained since the accident.

The ATV driver and two other passengers, all teens, were not injured. No one was wearing helmets. The truck driver was shaken but unharmed.

Police haven't decided if charges will be laid. "It could have been worse; Luckily it wasn't," said RCMP Const. Herman Dukhedin-Lalla.

The teen won't be home for at least two weeks, possibly four.