British diplomat felt ‘deep relief’ when Chinese student he saved from drowning started breathing again
- Stephen Ellison, the UK consul general in Chongqing, was hailed as a hero for diving in to rescue the woman over the weekend
- The 61-year-old said his old lifeguard training ‘kicked in’ when he saw she was at risk of losing her life
A British diplomat hailed as a hero for rescuing a drowning student in southwest China over the weekend said he felt a deep sense of relief when he saw that the woman had resumed breathing and would be all right.
Stephen Ellison, the UK’s consul general in Chongqing, had been at a nearby scenic spot last Saturday when suddenly “there was a big commotion” after a female student fell into the river, he said on Wednesday.
Ellison, 61, who assumed his post in Chongqing in October, has been widely praised on Chinese social media, where dramatic videos of the rescue have become a top-trending item.
“It was pretty clear quite quickly that she was in trouble. She couldn’t swim and she was submerged when she came up and she was floating on the surface of the water,” he said.
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British diplomat becomes hero in China after saving student from river
Seeing that she “was going to lose her life”, the former civil engineer said some lifeguard training 50 years ago in Malta “clicked in”.