A man in China nearly lost his wife after a heated dispute, but managed to save the day by grabbing the suicidal woman’s ponytail just as she leaped off a high-rise building.
According to South China Morning Post, the woman in her 30s jumped off the ledge of a building in Shaanxi province on Feb 5 after having an argument with her family.
Sensing trouble, her quick-thinking husband, who lives with her in a rented apartment on the top floor of the residential building, stretched out his hands and caught her ponytail in the nick of time.
Police reportedly told local paper Chinese Business View that the woman was suspended mid-air for about three minutes. When they arrived at the scene, she had slipped further down and her husband was clutching on to the end of her ponytail.
“If we were late by a few seconds or her husband couldn’t hold on to her hair for a few more seconds, it might have been impossible to save her,” an officer was quoted by the paper as saying.
Video footage of the dramatic rescue has since become a hot topic on the Internet. In the video, a police officer can be seen risking his life by climbing over the barrier to reach the woman. Other police officers can be heard shouting frantically as they grab on to their colleague to prevent him from falling.
Meanwhile, the woman’s husband had also climbed over the barrier and was still desperately holding on to his wife’s hair.
Fortunately, there was a 30cm-wide pipe below which supported the woman’s weight. Without the pipe, she would have plunged straight to the ground, police reportedly said.
After being pulled to safety, the woman cried and shouted at her husband to “let go”. She was eventually carried back into the house with the help of police officers.
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