A Pakistani teenager miraculously survived an attempted honour killing this week and is recovering in a Punjab hospital.

News reports published Thursday state that 18-year-old Saba Maqsood was shot twice and thrown in a canal for marrying the man that she loved instead of the man her family chose for her.

Maqsood told officials: "I was tortured and shot by my father, Maqsood Ahmad, brother, Faisal Maqsood, uncle, Ashfaq Ahmad, and his wife, Sajida Bibi."

Police spokesman Ali Akbar explained what happened to the girl.

"The victim, Saba ... married her neighbor Muhammad Qaiser for love five days ago against the wishes of her family," he told Reuters.

"They took her to Hafizabad, shot her twice and threw her in the canal after putting her in a sack, presuming that she was dead."

Maqsood regained consciousness after five minutes in the water, he said, and made it onto the bank. She suffered gunshot wounds to her left cheek and right hand.

"She is a brave girl," Akbar stated.

Police are searching for the family members who attempted to kill Maqsood.

Some cultures believe that when a person commits an act that is considered shameful to their family, they should be killed to preserve the family's honour. Pakistani law allows the family to nominate who will carry out the act, and then forgive the perpetrators.

Rarely are the killers prosecuted or convicted, and they may even walk free after a conviction.

The attempted murder comes less than two weeks after the stoning death of Pakistani woman, Farzana Parveen, in a May 27 "honour killing."

Parveen, 25, died from severe head trauma after being barraged with bricks thrown by her father, brothers, fiancé, and others in front of the Lahore High Court.

She was engaged to marry her cousin, but decided to marry a man named Mohammad Iqbal, whom she loved, according to Lahore police.