A heroic dad rushed to save the life of a young boy who fell through the ice – but then needed rescuing himself.
Mr. Ban was playing with his daughter in the park when he noticed a group of kids mucking about on the frozen lake.
Ignoring his parents’ warnings, one boy ventured to the middle of the lake and crashed through the ice, into the freezing water.
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The boy was reportedly about 4ft tall and he knew the water depth in the middle was nearly 5ft.
Mr. Ban handed his jacket to his daughter and carefully crawled across the ice to the lad’s position.
Having watched similar rescue videos in the past, he said he knew to lie horizontally across the icy surface to distribute his weight, but he still couldn’t stop himself from falling in.
Undeterred, he grabbed the boy and lifted him to safety.
But apparently suffering from the extreme cold, he struggled to lift himself onto the ice and needed to be rescued.
In the video, another dad in a black jacket is seen lying across the frozen surface to grab Mr. Ban’s hand and pull him to safety.
The rescue took place in Luoyang City in Henan Province, China.
On Thursday (29 Jan), Mr. Ban said: “My first feeling when I fell into the water was an icy chill that went straight to my bones.
“My legs were instantly enveloped in cold with stinging sensations.”
But in the moment, he could only think about getting the child out of the water as quickly as possible.
He used his hands to break the ice between himself and the boy and lifted him onto the ice.
After seeing the boy crawl to safety, he said he started to struggle in the water “because my legs were already incredibly numb”.
He added: “I was a little scared.”
After being rescued himself, Mr. Ban then spent half an hour in a hot shower to revitalise himself, as reported by Need To Know.
When he went to work the following week, many of his colleagues had seen the rescue video and hailed him as a “hero”.
Mr. Ban said in response: “I still can’t accept this title.
“To me, I just did something that most people would do.
“I just happened to be there at the time.”
Following all the online attention, he said he hopes “to return to daily work and life as soon as possible”.
