'Angels were watching over my son that night': Father of teen found injured in ATV crash

WESTERN SHORE, N.S. -

A father of a teenager whose ATV crash left him injured over the weekend is thanking the three men who found him along the trail early Saturday morning.

"They were definitely put in that spot for a reason, I believe. I'm not a religious man by any way shape or form but definitely angels were watching over my son that night," said Chad Wile.

His son, 17-year-old Zachary Wile, had been driving his ATV home from a friend's cabin when he crashed.

RCMP received a call at 3:30 a.m. Saturday, but Chad Wile estimates his son was alone on the trail, hurt and helpless for about an hour-and-a-half to two hours.

"Nobody knew until the next morning because myself, grandparents, mom, everybody was out doing something. They were either camping or gone away for the weekend," Wile said.

Nik Hakansson lives near where the crash happened. He and his cousin Alex Radford and friend Nick Johnson were in the area walking on the trail. They first noticed the ATV's lights and heard its music blaring.

"From a distance it looked like a campfire honestly," Hakansson said. "As we passed by we saw the ATV flipped on its side."

Hakansson found Zachary Wile on the ground — about 20 feet away from his ATV. He was unconscious but still wearing his helmet. The three men started talking to Wile to make sure he was OK, and quickly realized they needed to call 911. Hakansson said an ambulance arrived in about five minutes.

"He had a cut on his face, hands, arms. His pants were completely ripped. It took us a while to learn how bad his leg was. He tried to move around and we noticed he couldn't move his leg at all," Hakansson said.

"Really lucky honestly. We were in the right place at the right time."

Paramedics rushed the teen to hospital. He's now recovering at the South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater.

Chad Wile said his son has a major laceration to the back of his leg, a broken collar bone and shoulder as well as road rash. Wile posted to social media to try to find the strangers who helped his son. People shared the post and soon after he got a call from Hakansson.

On Tuesday, the two met outside the South Shore Regional Hospital. Wile hugged the stranger and thanked him repeatedly, holding back tears. Wile said his son has a long road ahead of him, but he's doing well.

"Spirits are extremely high. He's doing well. He's extremely happy to be alive," Wile said. "He's extremely grateful for the three men that found him."

"I don't think we're the heroes I definitely would save that for the paramedics. We found him, we found them, we got them there. We can't treat someone like they can," Hakannson said.

RCMP said the investigation into the crash is ongoing.