An old woman who can't swim managed to save herself from drowning after falling into a river in Central China's Hunan Province by wrapping her arms around her chest and floating on the water. Screenshot of video by Toutiao News on Sina Weibo.

An old woman who can't swim managed to save herself from drowning after falling into a river in Central China's Hunan Province by wrapping her arms around her chest and floating on the water, Toutiao News reported. 

The 87-year-old woman, surnamed Xie, had gone down to the riverbank to wash her hands when she slipped and fell into the water. "I couldn't swim, so I hugged myself tightly and spat water out when I choked," Xie recalled. 

Firemen rushed to the scene soon after receiving the alarm. According to the deputy head of the fire rescue station, Xie had been trapped in the water for some time and could have been swept away at any moment. 

Two firefighters in rescue suits immediately went down and used life buoys to pull her back to shore. 

Luckily, Xie did not injure herself in the incident, and recovered soon after she was sent to hospital. 

Netizens on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo praised it as a textbook form of self-rescue and admired the old woman's calm in the face of life-threatening danger.

Global Times