Elderly woman rescued after falling into frozen river in China

A man braved a frozen river to rescue a 70-year-old woman who fell into its icy waters in northern China, a news website reported.

Shi Lei, 54, saw the woman fall while he was riding his bike in Baoding in Hebei province early on Tuesday morning, Thepaper.cn reported.

Other passers-by standing on a bridge called for the police, but Shi immediately crawled across the ice to pull the woman out, according to the report.

He had to smash some of the ice with his hands, taking about a minute to free the woman and pull her to safety.

Another man helped by holding on to the rescuer’s clothes so Shi, too, did not fall into the freezing water.