Docs reattach boy's severed arm

Doctors at Memorial Hermann Hospital have reattached a 12-year-old boy's left arm, which the boy lost Monday afternoon while playing alongside a train track in north Houston. The accident happened near Frisco and Donlen at about 5:45 p.m.; according to KHOU, the boy and some friends tried to jump aboard a slow-moving train and the boy's arm somehow got severed. Fortunately, neighbor Louis Rubio acted fast with some towels and a cooler:

“I ran back to the train tracks and I had two more towels with me and went and picked up his arm and I brought it back over here and put it in a cooler with ice in it to make sure it would be Ok by the time the ambulance got here.”

Surgeons got the arm attached and were performing another operation Tuesday night; relatives said color was returning to the boy's fingers, which is a good sign (if you're intrested, Slate has a little more on reattaching severed body parts). The train didn't stop after the accident because the conductor didn't realize anything had happened, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman said.