Day of tragedy that has saved others

Guo Huiren (center) and his peers work as volunteer life guards in the Yongjiang River. The group is run independently, but has links with the Red Cross. REN QI/CHINA DAILY

An accident in which five boys drowned in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has had positive repercussions: it has led to other lives being saved by a group of life guards set up in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Local swimmers can always be seen in Yongjiang River, and some work as volunteer life guards to prevent even more tragedies.

Guo Huiren, 62, a winter swimmer, is one of the volunteer lifeguards, and he says he has saved many lives in the city's so-called mother river.

However, the endings have not all been so fortunate, and one day he says he will never forget is July 13, 2010, when the five boys, two of them twins, drowned while swimming in the river in southern Nanning.

Guo and friends from the local winter-swimming club set up the volunteer lifeguard service three days after the deaths.

It was at that time, too, when Guo, with other swimmers, set up the Guangxi Red Cross Life-Saving Volunteer Team on the banks of the Yongjiang. Initially it had 10 members, and today has more than 70, mostly retirees in their 60s.

"All the lifeguards are volunteers, and we're all experienced swimmers," says Ou Jian, the team captain. "Ten of us have received lifeguard certificates from the local government. Almost everyone on the team has saved people more than once."

Guo, one of its most skilled swimmers, has rescued about 30 people. However, this dates back to before the group started; he says his first was in 1983, when he helped save a woman who tried to kill herself by jumping into the river.

Most incidents involve young people or those unfamiliar with the river and its currents, he says.