Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 2, 1994                   TAG: 9401020110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WIDEWATER                                LENGTH: Short

HELICOPTER RESCUES BOYS FROM ICY CREEK

Saleen Ashgar, 15, of Widewater, and Marc Akbar and Ahmad Nabizad, both of Woodbridge, were not seriously injured, according to hospital and rescue officials.

A helicopter from the Fairfax County Police Department lifted each boy off the canoe in turn, using a harness and tether, and carried them to shore. A helicopter from the U.S. Park Police provided a searchlight for the rescue.

The boys were playing on the 8-inch-thick ice that covered the mile-wide creek when the ice started to crack, Stafford County police said.

One boy, closer to the shoreline than the others, pulled a canoe onto the creek and the boys were able to climb aboard. The canoe capsized once, but the boys got back in.

Nabizad's sister, 21-year-old Mariam, tried to reach the boys, but fell into the creek. John Shelton III, an off-duty deputy with the Stafford County Sheriff's Department, pulled her out of the water.

She was treated at Potomac Hospital for exposure and was released.