Man in China saves drowning woman & posts video of heroics, woman files takedown request

A China man’s heroic act of saving a woman from drowning backfired when he uploaded a video of the rescue.

Sin Chew Daily reported that the woman had contacted the social media platform and requested that the video be taken down.

This is because she alleged that the man, Gao, violated her portrait rights.

Drowning woman

According to China.com, Gao was passing by a canal on Oct. 14 in Hangzhou, the capital of China's eastern Zhejiang province.

At that time, he spotted the woman drowning.

Rescue

A China Daily YouTube shorts video shows that he jumped into the canal.

Gao then swam towards the woman and pulled her to shore across a gravel-covered riverbed.

The video later showed that the man had been injured during the rescue.

Jimu News reported that the man also received a tetanus shot at his own expense following the incident.

Upload video

Gao then uploaded a social media video of the rescue that had been filmed by onlookers.

Sin Chew Daily reported that it was his first time saving someone.

He also lost his phone and wallet during the rescue.

Complaint

However, Gao's video was deleted, and a removal notice was shown.

This is because the woman contacted the social media platform.

She requested that the video be deleted shortly after it was released.

In addition, she reported the video to the platform for "infringement of portrait rights".

He then reuploaded the video with her face censored more, but insisted that she could not have been identified in the first video either.

Gao emphasised that he did not want to blame the woman.

He added that he would still take action if faced with a similar situation in future.

Top photos via China Daily/YouTube