A Beijing taxi driver, seriously injured by a malicious passenger, was saved from death yesterday thanks to the local first-aid service and immediate operations carried out by local hospital, Beijing Morning Post reports.

The 58-year-old driver, Hu Sen, was attacked while he was carrying a "vicious-looking" passenger, who, with a knife in his hand, attempted to export money from him.

Hu's resistance irritated the blackmailer, who threw the knife at him.

Hu's trachea was half-broken and part of his breast bone and thymus was also cut off, according to the surgeon, Liu Yong, in 731 Hospital attached to China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp.

After two hours of operations, Hu's trachea was successfully sewn up and he narrowly escaped death, said Yang Dabin, the operator, who is also the chief of the surgical department in the hospital.

"The injured driver was directly taken to the operation room after he was carried into the hospital by first-aid servicemen," Yang said, adding Hu would die if he were later 30 minutes to the hospital.

Local police has tried to investigate the case but was stopped since Hu can't speak for the time being.

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