Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
This is the moment – seen over 17 million times in less than 24 hours – two rescuers catch a woman who falls over 30 feet from a railing at a crowded airport terminal.
The brave manoeuvre was captured on the body-worn video camera of Chen Chongpeng, whose partner Ye Liangcheng was knocked unconscious as they extended their hands to catch the woman dressed in a pink top.
According to authorities at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which is in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province in South China, the incident took place just after noon on 27th October.
The unnamed woman climbed over the railings next to a set of escalators in Terminal 2 following what is being reported as an argument with her family members.
Images showed her hanging over the edge of the glass balustrade over 10 metres (32 feet) high, holding on with both hands while hanging precariously over the drop.
The body-cam footage shows the officers with the People’s Armed Police then having to react quickly as the woman falls.
She lands on Ye and knocks him unconscious, with Chen explaining that the pair of them had caught the falling woman with their bare hands.
Paramedics took both officers and the woman to hospital Guangdong Armed Police Corpse Hospital for treatment.
The woman was not seriously harmed, and Ye and Cheng were both diagnosed with minor injuries.
Ye, who remains hospitalised, is recovering from injuries to his neck, spine and right knee.
He recalled: “By the time we arrived, the woman had already climbed to the other side of the railing. She was hanging over the edge with both hands.
“First her phone fell, then she jumped off.
“I didn’t give it much thought; it was an instinctive reaction.
“If not us, then who?”
Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
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