Suicidal man pushed off Chinese bridge

May 23, 2009

A passerby pushed a man, who was threatening to commit suicide, off Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou, China. The 66-year-old passerby, Lai Jiansheng, told China Daily that "I pushed him off because jumpers... are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interests."

Lai initially volunteered his services to police to persuade the man not to jump, but police rejected these. Following this, Lai broke through a police barrier to push the man.

The pushed man, Chen Fuchao, survived with spinal and elbow injuries, because he landed on a partially-inflated air cushion 8 metres (26 feet) below. Lai was taken away by police.

The man threatening to jump was in 2,000,000 (293,000) of debt.

At least 12 people have threatened to jump off the bridge since the start of April, causing "traffic … to become worse" according to a spokesman for the Guangzhou public security bureau.