A taxi driver has been praised by web users after he was filmed rescuing a young woman who was seconds away from jumping from a tall bridge.
The distressing scene was recorded on a dashboard camera showing the moment the unknown woman wearing a dark-coloured dress perched up on the edge of the guardrails in Yichuan, in central China’s Henan Province.
Her desperate attempt was also noticed by a taxi driver, Yu Chaofeng, who was driving past and immediately stopped his vehicle upon seeing her try to climb over the railing.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he ran towards the woman and grabbed her by the waist, trying to pull her away with all his strength.
The woman resisted at first, but Yu did not stop until he dragged her further away.
Another man also ran over to help and opened his car door for Yu, apparently telling him to place the woman inside before the footage cuts.
Yu later told local media the incident occurred as he was on his way back from doing a delivery.
While driving, he became concerned when noticed the woman standing on the bridge with a strange calm.
Yu said: “I noticed something was wrong with her at the time. Someone jumped in the river in this place before.
“It was noon at that time, and she was standing there a long time, which made me a little suspicious.”
Yu’s gut feeling apparently led him to turn the taxi around and quietly park it near her.
He observed her for a little while and saw the woman suddenly throw her mobile phone and bag on the ground, ready to jump into the river.
Yu then immediately ran to her and rescued the woman.
He then called the police and waited for the police to arrive.
Yu later recalled that one of the woman’s legs had already stepped over the guardrail at that time, and if she was a second later, she might have fallen into the river.
He went on to say he never learned why the woman wanted to take her own life.
But he added that no matter what happens, people should live strong and should not give up on living so easily.
Yu’s heroic act was met with nothing but words of praise and encouragement by online user after the video of his rescue was put up on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
A user titled ‘Lebang Crane (Yichuan) Hoisting Service Center [Wang Songfeng]’ said in a comment: “Full of positive energy, brother, good job.”
And user ‘Luoyang little girl 20.9.18’ wrote: “There are still many good people, the woman’s family must be very grateful to this young man.”
