Man injures spine leaping from river embankment to retrieve dropped glasses
A man in his 40s has severely injured his spine in an attempt to retrieve his glasses that he dropped by the Qiantang River, known for its ferocious tidal waves, in Zhejiang province, a mainland newspaper reports.
The migrant worker from Hunan province was seen lying by the shoreline of the river by a reporter going to conduct an interview nearby for the Dushi Kuaibao, a paper under the Hangzhou Daily Group. The reporter initially thought the man was sleeping but he was lying in the same position an hour later when the reporter returned. The reporter investigated and found the man unable to speak and the tide of was beginning to rush to the shoreline where he lay.
The police were called and deduced that the man jumped from the river embankment in an attempt to retrieve his fallen glasses.
He was guarded by a young police intern as the water rapidly rose before rescuers arrived with a stretcher that had to be lowered from the embankment to reach the man using a nine-metre ladder.
The man was rushed to the Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine where doctors said he had suffered severe damage to his lumbar vertebrae.
He was admitted to the hospital and required surgery, but it was unsure whether he will ever walk again.
