Picture this: a man trapped, half-submerged in frigid, flowing river water for nearly a day, his life slowly fading away as hypothermia took its toll.

All efforts to extract 66-year-old Lithuanian adventurer Valdas Bieliauskas had failed after his leg became trapped in a rock crevice while rafting on the Franklin River in Tasmania last November.

Dr Jorian Kippax was the Tasmanian doctor called in after amputation was determined to be the only way to save the man's life.

"Valdas' death was inevitable and evident probably in the next couple of hours," Dr Kippax said in an address to fellow medical professionals last week.

With tonnes of icy water flowing past him every second over such a prolonged period, Mr Bieliauskas' core temperature had plunged to a deathly 26.3 degrees.

"Amputatio

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