Dad Dives Into Frozen Lake to Save Stranger's Son

When a young boy plunged through thin ice into a frozen lake in Luoyang City, China, a father visiting the park with his daughter didn't hesitate for a second.

The man, identified only as Mr. Ban, immediately handed his coat to his daughter and dropped to his stomach. He crawled across the fragile ice toward the center of the lake, where the child struggled in the sub-zero water.

The boy had ignored his parents' warnings and ventured onto the frozen lake with friends. When the ice gave way beneath his feet, he became trapped in the frigid water, unable to pull himself out.

Mr. Ban reached the child and pulled him from the water, pushing him up onto more solid ice. But in the process of saving the boy, Mr. Ban fell through the ice himself.

"My first feeling when I fell into the water was an icy chill that went straight to my bones," Mr. Ban said later. "My legs were instantly enveloped in cold with stinging sensations."

The ice kept breaking beneath his arms as he tried to climb out. Another rescuer then crawled across the frozen surface on his stomach to help pull Mr. Ban to shore while shocked bystanders watched.

Remarkably, Mr. Ban had never received formal rescue training. He learned the proper techniques from watching videos online in his spare time, including the crucial detail of lying horizontally to distribute his weight across the ice.

After the rescue, Mr. Ban spent half an hour in a hot shower recovering from the bone-chilling cold. By the time he returned to work the following week, the rescue video had spread online and his colleagues were calling him a hero.

Why This Inspires

Mr. Ban's humility might be as remarkable as his bravery. Despite risking his life to save a stranger's child, he insists he doesn't deserve the hero label.

"I just did something that most people would do," he said. "I just happened to be there at the time."

His story proves that everyday people can become lifesavers with a little knowledge and a lot of courage. The rescue videos he watched in his spare time gave him the skills he needed when a real crisis unfolded right in front of him.

Both Mr. Ban and the young boy made it home safely that day, thanks to quick thinking, online learning, and one father's willingness to risk everything for a child he'd never met.