Overseas man hailed as Good Samaritan after heroic rescue, internet sleuths help fashion a reunion between long-lost writing buddies
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAlice Yanin ShanghaiPublished: 6:00pm, 14 Apr 2026A Moroccan man studying in eastern China has been hailed as a hero by local residents and received an award for saving a drowning woman from a lake.
On the evening of April 6, Ayoub Fadil, 21, a student at Hangzhou Dianzi University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province and several foreign friends were walking around Jinsha Lake when they noticed a woman floating in the water.
A lifebuoy thrown by some residents did not help because she was too far away from the bank, Hangzhou Daily reported.
Fadil’s girlfriend urged him to jump in and save the woman because he is good at swimming. He did so after taking off his shoes and coat and putting down his mobile phone.
Fadil soon reached the woman and began dragging her ashore. It took him a few minutes to save her, according to witnesses.
