This week the Hong Kong Observatory issued the first cold weather warning of 2018, with the mercury dipping to single digits.
But if you think that is cold, spare a thought for the people of Hebei in northern China, where winter temperatures plummeted to anywhere from -16 to -3 degrees Celsius, and where snow and ice can cause treacherous conditions, leading to an amazing rescue on a frozen lake that was captured on video this Sunday.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, a mother and her two children – a boy of about 10-years-old, and a girl around 3- to 4-years-old – were playing on the lake at Caoxueqin Park on Sunday.
The children then stepped on thin ice and plunged into the water, with the mother dragged in almost immediately as she desperately tried to save them.
More than 15 people nearby banded together to rescue the trio by joining hands and forming a 25-meter-long human chain on the lake’s surface.
After saving them from the freezing water, the rescuers can then be seen taking off their coats and wrapping them around the survivors.
The rescue effort took about two minutes, said a park staffer, who told the Beijing Youth Daily : “Our security guy was on patrol, just on the opposite side of the lake. When he arrived, they were already rescued.”
Man Xiaomeng, one of the rescuers, told Hebei News that the mother and her children were riding a sled on the frozen lake before falling through the thin ice.
He said: “The mother was struggling up and down in the water, holding the girl. The boy tried to grab the edge of the hole, and kept shouting for help.”
“I heard cracking sound of ice under my foot. But none of us chickened out.”
A family member of the three later posted a video message online, saying: “Thank you so much to the kind-hearted people who put themselves in danger to save our three family members.”
