Man awarded free lifetime supply of cooked fish heads

A man who saved four people from a car that crashed into cold water in East China's Zhejiang province will receive a free supply of cooked fish heads for the rest of his life, according to a local company's decision in Hangzhou, the capital of the province.

Liu Xinting, a computer engineer at e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, was with his colleagues Sunday on the way to a restaurant that serves fish heads at Qiandao Lake, a famous man-made lake in Hangzhou, when he saw the traffic accident.

A pickup truck tried to overtake a red sedan by running into the opposite lane but met with an oncoming car. When the pickup swerved back it hit the sedan's rear. The collision made the sedan lose control and fall into the lake.

Liu asked his colleagues to call the traffic police as he ran toward the lake. There was a slope full of sharp stones and brambles. Though hurt by the brambles, Liu still rushed to the lake without stopping.

The red sedan was gradually sinking. In this critical situation, Liu immediately jumped into the cold water and did all he could to rescue the passengers and drivers in the sinking sedan.

"Now I felt a little bit dangerous. It is hazardous to jump into the water without taking off your shoes and clothes, let alone save drowning people in the cold water," Liu said when recalling the rescue. "But the situation was too urgent."

With Liu and his colleagues' efforts, all four people in the sedan were rescued. They stayed at the scene of the accident to comfort the rescued people until the traffic police and an ambulance arrived.

Liu's brave actions were soon known by the Hangzhou Qiandao Lake Development Group. To thank him, the company decided to award a free lifetime supply of cooked fish heads to Liu and his colleagues.