Soldier on vacation saves boy from drowning

A soldier risked his life to save a boy from drowning during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ye Fangqiang, from Quanzhou, Fujian Province, and fellow soldiers Feng Zhiqiang and Hou Junman, were enjoying the scenery in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on the morning of June 17. Then they heard screams.

They discovered that one of the three children who were playing in a nearby river was missing, while another was struggling in deep water.

Ye asked his colleagues to call rescuers while he ran to the shore and jumped into the water without any hesitation to save the struggling boy.

At the same time, a young man nearby also jumped into the water to save the boy.

Soon after he entered the water, Ye's ankle was trapped by a net. He pulled himself free after a bit of effort and continued to head towards the boy.

When he finally reached the boy he held up him, holding his head above the water. The frightened boy clung tightly to Ye's neck.

Feng and Hou helped perform a simple checkup on the boy when Ye carried him to shore.

The other young man who joined in the efforts was forced to return to shore after suffering cramp. 

Though Ye felt exhausted, he jumped back into the water to search for the missing child. He shouted while scanning the water surface, but failed to find him.

After police, firefighters and ambulance officers arrived on scene, Ye and his colleagues told them the details of the incident and left.

Ye was heard crying, "I'm devastated that I failed to save the other child."

The missing child was finally found by rescue crew but he was pronounced dead from drowning.

Chinese netizens gave their support to Ye and the young man who tried to help, saying that both of them are heroes and that they shouldn't feel like they failed.