Heroic and tragic are the only words to describe what unfolded in Jiangsu Province in the past few days, as a drowning boy was saved by a man who would ultimately lose his life in doing so, assisted hands on in the effort by non other than the local Party Secretary.
On the afternoon of 3 June, a 14-year old boy was playing on the Longwang Shan reservoir embankment in Mudian Town of Xuyi County in Jiangsu’s Huai’an City. The boy then ventured out to an elevated gazebo some 40 metres from the shoreline to, inexplicably, fall into the reservoir.
That’s when Qiao Jun (37), who was riding by on an electric tricycle, stopped to help. Hearing that someone had fallen into the water, he jumped into the reservoir and swam towards the lad without saying a word.
Making it out to the boy, Qiao began his return holding the boy to the surface as much as possible. But it was tiring work in the 10-metre deep waters.
That’s when the local Party Secretary stepped in, literally. Out inspecting some straw that had been burning nearby, Wang Zhigang, Secretary of the Party General Branch of Longwang Shan Village of Mudian Town, rushed to the scene after hearing the news.
Wang wasted no time in joining Qiao in the reservoir’s waters. Qiao was then able to push the boy to him, whereupon Wang worked with local firefighters to get the boy ashore.
But now Qian himself was in difficulty, exhausted from his heroic rescue. Police and firefighters took a rubber dinghy out to search for him, while at the same requesting assistance from the Xuyi Blue Sky Rescue Team for help.
When they got to him, Qiao was face down in the water. Despite rushing him to hospital for emergency treatment, Qiao died soon after, having been in the water too long.
The rescued boy would later tell his grandfather that Qiao had lifted lifted him out of the water three times, repeatedly choking on the water.
Bringing ¥30,000 in condolences to Qiao’s home, the boy’s grandfather told the Yangtze Evening News he was quite prepared to be beaten up when he went there. He need not have worried.
Qiao’s mother, 72-year-old Li Cuiping, resolutely refused to accept the money, but ultimately gave in to the persuasion of relatives, friends and village cadres. “My son has gone now. I just hope that the rescued teenager’s parents will raise their son well”, she said.
Interested readers can watch surveillance camera footage of the boy’s fall into the reservoir and Qiao’s heroic efforts to rescue him via this link.
