Rescuers Form A Human Wall To Dam A River With Their Bodies To Save A Boy Trapped By The Current

Rescuers Form A Human Wall To Dam A River With Their Bodies To Save A Boy Trapped By The Current

From southwest China comes the story of a group of strangers who stopped at nothing to rescue a boy from a raging river.

While unable to literally move heaven and earth, their determination was such that they altered the flow of the river—with nothing less than their own bodies.

The story began in Guizhou province near a scenic riverway frequented by visiting nature lovers. A boy was playing in a creek where the water flow was quite strong and lost his footing.

Less than a foot of fast-flowing water is still enough to move a parked car, and the boy was at the mercy of the elements as he tumbled down the waterway before being stuck between two large stones with only his head sticking up above the torrent.

Good Samaritans, mostly tourists, rushed to the scene and plotted a rescue maneuver. They first tried throwing a rope down to the boy but it was not enough.

Shortly after, the largest and strongest of them waded out into the stream and literally created a human wall to break the flow of the river long enough that someone could help get the boy out safely.

One rescuer, Xiao Feng, scaled down one rock, and needed three attempts to dislodge the boy, the water making everything slippery and a solid grip unachievable. All the while the weather was turning, and the rescuers felt they needed to succeed immediately or rains might cause the river to rise even further.

Xiao, his daughter’s voice in his ear from where she watched on the bank above, eventually freed the boy who immediately cascaded down into the arms of another rescuer in the pool below.

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Going viral on Mainland social media, commenters remarked on how brave and selfless the rescuers were.

“The boy is so lucky to have so many uncles coming to his rescue,” said another, as Chinese etiquette often has the term aunt and uncle used as a way to formally address older acquaintances.