My photo (top right) was born during a salvaging struggle against Typhoon Matsa on August 8, 2005.
In the afternoon of that day, I was on duty at my police station near the seashore in Qingdao of Shandong Province.
We were suddenly informed that someone had been washed out to sea. Together with my colleagues, I immediately arrived at the beach, where the accident had been reported.
We found a young man struggling to swim against the huge waves and return to shore. We managed to drag him out of the sea, but then learned he was not the original victim who was swept out to sea. He was, instead, a young man called Wei Qinggang, who dove in the water to save the woman.
When Wei, a migrant worker labouring in Qingdao, heard a young woman had been swept out to sea, he dove in but could not find her due to the giant crashing waves and gusts of wind.
Meanwhile, the victim was spotted 40 metres away from the bank. Wei grasped the buoy from police and rapidly dove to the sea, saying: "I am more familiar with the situation."
But again the victim disappeared under the waves and Wei failed to get her.
Several minutes later, the young woman appeared again and Wei dove into the sea for the third time. This time, Wei brought her back. We firmly held the ropes tied onto his buoy, and Wei used his left hand to lift the woman upward.
At that moment, I took out my camera, and recorded the touching situation of salvation.
(China Daily 06/01/2006 page13)
