Two Toronto doctors rescue stranded 6-year-old boy on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Two Toronto doctors scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro with 13 others are being hailed as heroes after 

attending to a 6-year-old boy stranded 13,000 feet up the mountain. Both are in the back row: 

Bjug Borgundvaag at the far left, Howard Ovens third from the left.

Published on Tuesday September 11, 2012
Graham Slaughter 
Staff Reporter 
Whether it’s Mt. Sinai or Mt. Kilimanjaro, two Toronto doctors are renowned for saving lives.
Howard Ovens and Bjug Borgundvaag, both emergency room physicians at Mt. Sinai Hospital, helped revive a 6-year-old boy who was found wandering alone, clothes tattered and stomach empty, after two days on Africa’s highest peak.

“We’re all travelling around here and this little boy is walking around in a pair of torn pants with open-toed sandals and a sweatshirt over a t-shirt,” said David Cynamon, the lead climber. “He was very cold.”



At 13,000 feet, Ovens and Borgundvaag snapped into action-mode. They assessed the shivering boy for signs of frostbite and emaciation. The boy showed signs of dehydration and was extremely weak.

“Amazingly enough he didn’t seem to have any frostbite, but he wasn’t speaking very much. We gave him some hot water and tea and he was able to eat and drink, so we wrapped him in sleeping bags,” Cynamon said.

Doctors fed the boy a gel high in electrolytes to help him refuel.

As he regained strength, the 6-year-old boy told a translator that his name is Emmanuel. Armed with a small knife, he’d been sent up the mountain on Saturday by his village to cut grass for cattle. During the trip he became disoriented and was forced to spend two freezing nights without food or water on Kilimanjaro, nicknamed the “roof of Africa.”

A porter sits with 6-year-old Emmanuel, who was lost for two days 13,000 feet up Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

Emmanuel was rescued and treated by Mt. Sinai doctors who were climbing the mountain.

“He was pretty sleepy and tired but continuing to improve, so what we did was, rather than spend the night at altitude, we sent him to the bottom of the mountain,” Cynamon said.

Too weak to walk, Emmanuel was carried down the mountain by porters to a police station where local authorities will try to connect him with his family.

It’s unclear how Emmanuel got so high up, but he is probably from a village far above the foot of Kilimanjaro. Without food or water, the boy wouldn’t have survived much longer, Cynamon said.

The group was climbing to raise money for Mt. Sinai, and so far has raised more than $1.3 million in pledges.

Ovens has worked at the hospital for 30 years and Borgundvaag joined the emergency unit 17 years ago.

The Toronto doctors, along with the rest of the team, will rest Tuesday before attempting the final leg of the climb Wednesday at midnight. With luck, they’ll make it to the summit for sunrise.

“It’s going to be incredible,” Ovens said.

Scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro is a typically a five-day challenge; climbers are weighed down by heavy boots as they battle frigid temperatures and dizzying altitudes on the 19,300 foot ascension.

Kilimanjaro is actually an ancient volcano composed of three cones, the tallest of which has the potential to erupt again one day. The mountain has a diverse landscape that includes rainforest, alpine desert, and an ice-capped summit.

Source: Toronto Star