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Diplomat Stephen Ellison, 61, an extra athlete, jumped into a river to save a student who fell into the water.
A senior British diplomat became a hero in China after a video of dragging a student off a rising river went viral on social media.
The British delegation from Chongqing (southwest) said Monday 16-N that Consul General Stephen Ellison rescued a woman over the weekend who had fallen into one of the rivers running through the tourist area of this city.
“Thanks to the timely rescue, the woman was able to quickly regain her breath and consciousness”, says the consulate statement.
Ellison, 61, was visiting the city on Saturday 15-N when he heard the cry of a group of people who had seen the woman fall into the water.
In the images of the video recorded by passers-by, shared by the consulate and various Chinese media, Ellison is seen diving dressed in the river, where an unknown woman struggled to stay afloat.
Ellison said the woman suffered a shock from the accident but recovered.
Ellison, a skilled triathlete (as many media outlets have recalled) hauled the woman into a life preserver thrown from the shore before both could be rescued.
“We are all very proud of our Consul General in Chongqing,” the British diplomatic delegation to China said on Twitter on Monday.
On the Chinese social network Weibo, Ellison’s act of bravery had a huge impact. “For a man of his age, saving another person in the water in this cold, without worrying about his own safety, is something heroic, he is a gentleman”, reads a comment with more than 2,000 “likes”.
Ellison has been in office since June, having been a senior diplomat at the British Embassy in Beijing since 2014.
Relations between China and the UK have been strained this year following the UK’s decision to ban telecom giant Huawei from working with its 5G network in the country.
This comes on top of the UK’s frequent criticism of China for human rights violations observed in Hong Kong and with the Uyghur Muslim ethnic group in the country’s northeast.
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