MIRACLE man Andrew Van Den Berg has amazed doctors by making an extraordinary recovery from an horrific car crash.

The father-of-five's dramatic rescue from the clutches of death was captured in a breathtaking Evening Press photograph showing an emergency worker grasping Andrew's hand as he hung upside-down in his mangled car, trapped by his legs for two and a half hours.

The hand-of-mercy driver has astonished doctors by making an almost full recovery ten months earlier than expected.

And Andrew and his wife Dawn are putting some of their good fortune down to the Internet, which helped them contact churches all around the globe to arrange prayers for Andrew.

The 38-year-old suffered multiple injuries in the crash last April, and had eight operations to repair injuries to his legs, ankles, feet, arms, pelvis, spine and smashed collarbone. His daughter Vanessa, nine, was also hurt in the accident, which was caused by a freak hailstorm on the A64 near Tadcaster, but she has since made a full recovery.

Andrew, who still has another operation to endure but is now able to walk again, said: "I've come along in leaps and bounds compared with what the doctors predicted.

"When I first came out of hospital I couldn't do much. My legs were locked and it took a while for them to loosen up.

"I smashed my foot as well, so it was a little sore to walk on when I was finally on my feet again.

"It is amazing that I am still here, that I'm walking and that my health is so good considering what happened to me. Doctors said I would get worse before I got better - but I just got better."

Dawn, who married Australian-born Andrew in 1997, said: "It has been really difficult but we have had such phenomenal support from friends. And it has been a joy to watch him go from strength to strength without showing any resentment or anger.

"When I walked into that hospital, his doctors said he might not make it, and if he did he would be blind, para-lysed and brain damaged. They have been gobsmacked at his recovery. It should have taken 18 months, but it has been eight. It's just a miracle."

Dawn, a civil servant, said Andrew had been the subject of three 24-hour prayer chains in different parts of the world after she e-mailed churches the world over with news of her husband's plight.

She said his rapid recovery was the best Christmas present the couple, who live with Andrew's five children in Leeds, could have hoped for. The children's mother, Melvis, died five years ago.

Ex-plumber Andrew hopes to retrain for a new career.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.