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This article is transferred from [Yinchuan Evening News];

"Have a safe journey, kid!"

"Salute, loyalty is shown in times of crisis!"

“Heroes are immortal, and their spirit lives on!”

Miao Jian in training. Photo provided by the Ningxia Armed Police Corps

In recent days, the news that Miao Jian, a soldier born in the 2000s from a unit of the Ningxia Corps of the Armed Police Force, died while bravely rescuing a person who fell into the water has spread across the Internet.

People from all over the country expressed respect and sorrow in every word of their messages, bidding their final farewell to the heroes they had never met.

The grief of lost lives struck every kind heart in front of the mobile phone screen. A few days ago, the danger signal also struck the heart of Miao Jian and every armed police soldier who participated in the rescue. They made their choice with their actions - everything is for the motherland and the people!

Danger comes quietly

"Help, help! Come quickly!" At 5:38 p.m. on August 2, five soldiers from a unit of the Ningxia Armed Police Corps, Miao Jian, Zhou Yan, Liu Shuai, Liu Hualong, and Wang Yifei, heard crying and shouting as they were running past a sewage lift in Weijiaqiao Village, Jinfeng District.

Following the sound, I saw a middle-aged woman shouting loudly with an anxious look on her face next to a sewage well.

After arriving at the scene, Miao Jian and others had a brief conversation with the middle-aged woman and quickly understood the situation. Her husband was doing maintenance on the sewage well. Due to the foul smell and thin oxygen in the well, he felt dizzy after just a while. He shouted to his wife who was waiting outside the well: "I can't do it anymore." Then he lost consciousness and fell into the sewage.

"We looked down from the wellhead and could not find any trace of the worker. After going down the well, we were able to barely determine his location with the help of the dim light." Soldier Zhou Yan recalled that they judged the situation to be urgent, so they immediately split up and acted.

Liu Hualong returned to the brigade to report the situation and asked other comrades to assist in the rescue; Miao Jian, Zhou Yan and Liu Shuai discussed rescue matters on the spot; Wang Yifei went to the nearby area to look for rescue equipment to shorten the rescue time as much as possible.

One second earlier, one minute more life

"We receive safety training all year round and understand that the situation underground was dangerous and the workers were in critical condition. Every second was precious. One second earlier meant a chance of life, and there was no time to wait for the arrival of protective equipment." Zhou Yan recalled that after Miao Jian said to him, "I'll go down and take a look," he took a deep breath, stepped on the iron ladder and went down the well, and he followed closely behind.

There was a pungent smell in the well. Miao Jian and Zhou Yan climbed down the ladder about 5 meters and saw a platform less than 60 centimeters wide for them to stand on.

However, there was still a half-meter drop between the platform and the water. After searching for a while, Miao Jian finally found the unconscious worker in the dark sewage. Miao Jian called out to the worker several times, but there was no response. So Miao Jian and Zhou Yan decided to form a "human ladder".

"He usually takes good care of me, and this time he rushed to the front, leaving a safer position for me." Zhou Yan said that at that time he was holding the iron ladder handrail with one hand and Miao Jian's arm with the other. Miao Jian leaned half of his body out of the platform and reached out his other hand to the workers in the water.

Miao Jian grabbed the worker by the collar and lifted him up with all his strength, clearing his mouth and nose from the water.

However, as the worker's body was floating up and down due to the force, Miao Jian lost his balance. Zhou Yan felt his hand sink and saw Miao Jian fall into the sewage.

Zhou Yan, anxious, rushed forward immediately, but instead of hugging Miao Jian, he grabbed the worker's clothes.

Grabbing anything that can be grabbed around is a person's instinctive reaction after falling into the water, but faced with the choice between life and death, Miao Jian did not hesitate for a moment, and lifted the worker up with all his strength, leaving hope of life to the worker.

Zhou Yan on the platform pulled with all his might, and with their combined efforts, they finally pulled the worker out of the sewage and hung him on an equipment chain in the well, temporarily saving him from the danger of drowning.

When Zhou Yan turned around to look for Miao Jian again, he collapsed on the platform and lost consciousness due to excessive inhalation of harmful gases and lack of oxygen. Miao Jian was nowhere to be seen.

"It actually took less than a minute from the time we heard the soldiers' cry for help to the time we arrived at the scene with rescue equipment, but it was this one minute of emergency rescue that saved the workers. We carry out safety education all year round, and they all knew that going down the mine would be dangerous, but they went down without hesitation to save people," said Ding Guangyao, the police officer who later directed the rescue.

You go up and I go down, relay to find comrades

"Everyone rushed to the scene upon hearing the noise, scrambling to put on anti-gas gear and rescue equipment." Ding Guangyao recalled that within just a few minutes, more than 60 soldiers arrived at the scene to participate in the rescue.

With everyone's joint efforts, Zhou Yan and the workers who were in a coma were rescued one after another.

"There is still a soldier in the well!" Zhu Hongwei, who had been in the well twice, dived into the sewage for the third time to search for Miao Jian. Soldier Fang Shun dived into the sewage twice to search and rescue... Amid the shouts of "Let me do it" and "I'll go down again", many soldiers took turns to look for their comrades.

However, what I got was a series of “not found” and “still not found”.

"I wore protective gear and dived as deep as I could, thinking that as long as I got to the bottom, I could pull my comrades up. But in fact, the water in the well was not only very deep, but also very thick, and the resistance was very great." Soldier Fang Shun told reporters that they later learned that the sewage was more than 4 meters deep. The sewage was so thick that he could hardly see it underwater, so he could only use his hands and feet to feel and test it.

In fact, he was also very scared at that time, but when he thought of his comrades' selfless act of saving people, he gained more courage and just wanted to find his comrades as soon as possible.

At 5:47 p.m. that day, the brigade leaders contacted local fire rescue forces for emergency reinforcement. They drained the sewage, cleared the sludge, and purified the gas in the well... After more than four hours of intense search and rescue, Miao Jian was salvaged from the well at 10:10 p.m. that night. The on-site medical staff confirmed that he had no vital signs and had unfortunately died.

It's not a spur of the moment, it's instinct

When the bad news came, everyone was saddened.

With the full efforts of the Ningxia Armed Police Corps Hospital to treat him, Zhou Yan, whose vital signs had just stabilized, burst into tears: "I don't regret accompanying Miao Jian into the well to save people, but I regret not being able to protect him at the last moment." When the rescued worker learned about the rescue process, he found it difficult to calm down and said that after being discharged from the hospital, he would go to Miao Jian's hometown to visit and thank his relatives.

In the four years since he joined the army, Miao Jian has twice applied to join the Party. In the eyes of his comrades, he is "a tough guy who never leaves the front line even with minor injuries", "a warm and upright veteran", and "a knowledgeable and good teacher". Ding Guangyao recalled that Miao Jian had suffered from lumbar muscle strain due to years of training. The brigade party committee hoped that he would recuperate and, after approval from the superiors, transferred him from his original unit with a large amount of training.

Unexpectedly, after only one month in the new unit, he passed the assessment through his own efforts and adjustments and returned to his original unit. He also served as a training instructor to help other soldiers improve their quality.

"We all like him very much. He is optimistic, cheerful and positive. He always provides help to his comrades at the first opportunity. Even if he cannot help, he will actively find ways to solve it together." said Zhou Yan, who has worked side by side with Miao Jian for many years.

In February this year, Miao Jian submitted an application to join the party to the squadron party branch, in which he wrote the following sentence: "Dedicate my life to the motherland and the people and realize the greatest value of life."

As squadron instructor Jing Zhiyang commented on Miao Jian's feat: "This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but an instinct that he had developed over a long period of time."

On August 6, Miao Jian and Zhou Yan were awarded the title of "Advanced Individuals for Bravely Doing Righteous Acts" by the People's Government of Jinfeng District, Yinchuan City, Ningxia.

Source: Reporter Li Yangyang Correspondent Wang Zhuo