At 2 p.m. on June 19, on the banks of the Yongding River in Beijing, three fathers went into the water together to save people.
One is 39-year-old Zhou Siwei, who lives in Mentougou and is an online ride-hailing driver; One is Li Waterfall, 30 years old, who served in the Armed Police Force; Another is 31-year-old Zhou Hongbo, from Yanqing, who works as a clerk in a garden engineering company. It was Father's Day, and they brought their families to the shore to play.
The unexpected fall into the water were three children they had never known. Zhou Siwei used a backstroke, grabbed a boy's clothes, and swam towards the reed shoal; Zhou Hongbo pushed a girl into the shallow water, turned around and saved another boy; Li Waterfall lifted the girl out of the water and brought her to the shore.
All three children were rescued, but Zhou Hongbo left his son's world forever. The wife remembered that he glanced at her in the middle of the river, and then slowly sank until it disappeared.
A cry for help in the middle of the river
On June 19, the highest temperature in Beijing reached 33 degrees Celsius.
In the city where the heat wave is rolling, the Yongding River under the Fushi Road Bridge in Shijingshan District has smeared a hint of coolness. The air here is good, and there are usually many people who come. On weekends, there are more people than usual, some walking, some fishing, and families with children.
Inside there was the Zhou Hongbo family. They were on the east bank of the Yongding River. The one-and-a-half-year-old child was overjoyed, and as soon as his feet were stained with a little water, he "giggled" and laughed. They rarely came over, Zhou Hongbo was usually busy at work, and he happened to pass by this day, so he stayed for half an hour. It was almost two o'clock in the afternoon, and he packed up his things and prepared to deliver some wormwood to his mother-in-law, and invite the downstairs neighbors to dinner in the evening.
On the west bank of the Yongding River, the Zhou Siwei family had just arrived here. There were so many people that he had a hard time finding a vacant lot. The wife took out the floor mat and prepared to spread it out, afraid of being blown away by the wind, zhou Siwei took her eight-year-old son to find bricks.
He lives in Mentougou and usually drives a ride-hailing car, and his commuting time is relatively free. It was Father's Day, and he gave himself a holiday to spend time at home with his father. At noon, the children were clamoring to play in the water, and the nearby swimming pool was closed due to the epidemic, so they chose the river closest to home.
Weekly thinking. Courtesy of respondents
In shallow water, children jumped into the river and played. The echo under the bridge was loud, and the laughter kept wafting. Until a sharp cry came, "Whoeverse child has fallen into the water, save people!" ”
The call for help was the tourist Huang Ling. She noticed three children in the river being washed farther and farther away by the water, and one of the girls shouted "help", and the water had already passed her forehead.
A man in his 20s was the first to go down the river to save people, swim halfway, and then fold back, helplessly saying to the people on the shore, "Can't save." Huang Ling estimated that the rescuer should be physically weak. The place where the children are located is in the middle of the river, the deepest point is nearly 5 meters, and the undercurrent is surging under the water.
The three fathers swam to each of the three children
Zhou Hongbo, who was preparing to leave, stopped. When he looked, he saw only two children swimming in the shallow water, and the water seemed to be good, and he thought the children were playing.
But the cry for help came again. Zhou Hongbo found that there were three children in the middle of the river, and one of the girls seemed to start to sink. He threw the phone to his wife, and before he could take off his clothes, he turned and jumped into the river.
Huang Ling saw him, and in about 20 seconds, Zhou Hongbo swam to the girl's side. But without knowing why, the two began to spin around in the water. Zhou Hongbo tried to lift several times, and the girl's body slowly emerged from the water, but he sank a few times. Huang Ling noticed that Zhou Hongbo pushed the girl into the shallow water, turned around and went to save another boy next to him.
Other people have launched water to rescue one after another, and Li Waterfall is one of them. At the time, he was walking with his wife and three-year-old daughter, just in time to walk this side. After hearing the cry for help, he did not have time to understand the situation and jumped directly into the river.
Li Waterfall served in the Chongqing Armed Police Corps for two years and learned some knowledge of saving people. Swimming closer, he saw the girl in the middle, farther away from him, with two boys on either side. Li Waterfall shouted at them a few times, and after the girl gave a response, he took the lead in swimming towards the girl.
"At least two people were already in the rescue." Zhou Si judged that he was the third. He saw a man swimming towards the girl who fell into the water, a man was rescuing the boy who was a little closer, watching another boy in red clothes being washed farther and farther away by the water, Zhou Siwei did not hesitate and jumped into the water.
At 2 p.m. on June 19, the three fathers went into the water to rescue them. Courtesy of respondents
He had been swimming for more than 20 years, but this was the first time he had saved a man in an unknown river. Usually, Zhou Siwei likes to take his son to swim, and when his son can't swim, he will put on his father's shoulder and let him take the swim. At first, he also wanted to save people like this, but the drowning boy was panicked, grabbed the shoulder of the person, and unconsciously pressed straight down. Zhou Siwei could only switch to the backstroke, grabbing the boy's clothes with his left hand and taking them to the shore.
The water flow is very fast, and it is too difficult to swim to the bottom of the bridge. Zhou Siwei saw that there were reeds on the west bank of the river, and with experience, it must be shallow there, and he swam with all his might. Afraid of the child choking on the water, he first patted the boy's back, and he also breathed a sigh of relief before pulling the boy to the shore.
After Li Waterfall swam to the girl's side, he saw that she was conscious, and he wanted to put his arms around her neck and swim back together, but worried that the child was frightened, he decided to grab her clothes and lift the girl out of the water.
This action is very physically draining, and when there are still two or three meters from the shore, Li Waterfall feels tired to the limit, "The water flow is really urgent, I can't swim for a while, and I can't move at all." He finally riveted and pushed the girl ashore.
Lee Falls and his family. Courtesy of respondents
The last person to go ashore
Before Li Waterfall came ashore, his cousin Ling Qiang and a great uncle had already rescued a boy. Later, a man with glasses also walked over wet, and later he knew that it was Zhou Siwei who saved another boy. Together with the girl he rescued, all three children were rescued.
After handing over the child to the parents, Zhou Siwei and Li Waterfall sat paralyzed on the ground. Their limbs were sour and their faces were pale. They were all relieved to see the water calm again, and after a while they got up and left.
Tang Jing (pseudonym) only felt that his heart was getting tighter.
Husband Zhou Hongbo has not yet come up. She knew that her husband knew water, but didn't swim very often. When he rescued people, Tang Jing took care of the children, and his eyes were also fixed on the water. The last time he saw Zhou Hongbo, he seemed to look back at her as well, and then slowly sank.
"Call the police, call 120!" Tang Jing shouted. Huang Ling also shouted loudly, "There are still people who have not come ashore." Many people jumped into the water to look for it, but found nothing. Tang Jing cried and called her mother, and when her mother rushed over, the river bank was full of people, and everyone was looking for the brave father.
The fire brigade came, the Blue Sky Rescue Team also came, sonar, row hooks, probes were all used, or there was no shadow of Zhou Hongbo. The surface of the water is full of ripples left by the shuttle boats. Shen Ping (pseudonym) tied the guide rope, put on the equipment, and fanned the bottom of the river. At first, the search and rescue range with a radius of 50 meters was reduced little by little.
About an hour later, Shen Ping touched a pair of hands at the bottom of the river. Several rescuers joined forces and pulled the people up. The flow of water and the bustle of the people could not hide Tang Jing's cries, and Zhou Hongbo's body was stiff, and there was the bleeding that was common when drowning on his face.
More than 4 hours after jumping into the water, Zhou Hongbo was the last to be sent ashore.
Zhou Hongbo and his family. Courtesy of respondents
On the morning of June 21, the Shijingshan District Civil Affairs Bureau took the lead in holding a joint work meeting to identify the rescuers Zhou Hongbo (sacrificed), Li Waterfall and Zhou Siwei for their courageous behavior.
Li Waterfall and Zhou Siwei knew that the other rescuer had left forever. Also as fathers, they feel heartache. Li Waterfall said, "If I had known where he was at that time, I would have definitely launched the water for the second time." ”
Beijing News reporter Wu Mengzhen
Edited by Peng Chong, proofread by Wu Xingfa