Canadian jumps into river to rescue drowning local

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November 21, 2015

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Canadian jumps into river to rescue drowning local

By Yang Meiping | November 21, 2015, Saturday |

Print Edition

“I DO not regret jumping into the water,” Canadian Joshua Freund told Shanghai Daily yesterday as he recounted how he bravely dived into the freezing cold Huangpu River to save a Chinese man who was trying to commit suicide.

“It kind of happened naturally, and I would do it again if something like it happened again,” the 24-year-old, who fractured his ankle during the rescue, said.

Freund was walking along the Bund and taking photos near the Shanghai Monument to People’s Heroes with his girlfriend around 10pm on November 13 when he saw an elderly man jump into the Huangpu River.

It took him a couple of seconds, he said, but once he realized what had happened, he took off his coat, pants and shoes and jumped into the icy water to rescue the man who was apparently trying to commit suicide.

“I felt pain in my right ankle immediately after I jumped into the water,” Freund, who teaches at Jianqing Experimental School, said. “I guess my foot hit something like a platform under the water.”

Despite the pain from his broken ankle, Freund managed to reach the man and put his arms around his chest to prevent him from drowning.

With his foot injured he used one hand to carry the man, and the other to grab hold of one of the flotation belts in the ice cold water. Other eyewitnesses informed police, who arrived two minutes later as they were stationed nearby. Police pulled the two men, who were hanging on to the belt, out of the water, and gave them hot water before taking them to First People’s Hospital.

At the hospital, doctors diagnose Freund with a broken ankle, while the unnamed man who attempted to commit suicide was in a physically good condition.

“I’m not regretful,” Freund said, “My leg will heal. It is important that the man is well.”

Freund said he met the man’s family at the police station after the incident. They expressed their gratitude to him and told him the man, who is in his 60s, had been suffering from depression.

Shanghai Pacican Academy, Freund’s employer, said it would cover his hospital expenses.

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Canadian jumps into river to rescue drowning local

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