A 13-year-old boy from Russia's Sakhalin Island in the Far East has returned home after undergoing treatment for horrific burns at a hospital in Japan. Doctors and plastic surgeons spent three months on the teenager, who was lucky to come through the orde

Volodya Novikov had been playing with matches near a petrol container at a local garage when it exploded, giving him 60 per cent burns.

Doctors said the only way to save him was to get him to the nearest specialist burns unit, which happened to be in Hokkaido, Japan, just a narrow strait away from his home on Sakhalin Island.  

“The boy had over 60% of his skin surface burnt. Nine plastic surgeons were working together on him during his first surgery. This is the first time that we have had such a severe case,” Yoshida Tetsunori from the Sapporro Burn Centre, said.
 
The boy might never have made it to the hospital if the Japanese authorities hadn't intervened. At the time, flights in the area were banned because of security concerns over July's G8 summit. 

But the authorities made an exception and allowed the boy's plane to land.

Once in Japan, Volodya underwent a series of very complex and painful grafts and doctors at the Sapporro Burn Centre say he's lucky to be alive.

Volodya’s mother Razina Novikova said "the first two surgeries were very hard.

“Even doctors refused to guarantee that he would make it. The scars are going to heal with time. As Vova says, he is going to be OK by the time of his wedding,” Razina Novikova said. 

While the treatment is being paid for by Russia, Volodya's family say if it hadn't been for swift action by both countries, the boy would have died.

While in Japan, despite the pain, the teenager found time to learn some Japanese and even make up his mind on a future career.

“For example, ‘thank you’, sounds like ‘arigato!’, and ‘hello’ is ‘konichiwa’. I’m learning lots of things. I’m thinking of becoming a translator in the future,” Volodya said.