After a woman fell into a river in Guangzhou’s Haizhu District in the small hours of Friday, a Venezuelan man heard cries for help and got out of his taxi to jump in and come to her rescue, Nandu Daily reports.

After finishing her night shift at the nearby Osotto Hotel Miss Guo was walking home along Binjiang West Road at around 3:30 a.m. when she heard a woman screaming.

The woman explained that her sister had fallen into the river after getting into a row with her boyfriend and having too much to drink, Guo told reporters.

Guo then gathered with a group of her colleagues to try to catch a glimpse of the woman in the river, even though visibility was low.

None of them were good swimmers or keen on swimming in cold water to reach somebody they couldn’t see clearly. But it was then that a taxi stopped nearby and a young Caucasian male got out.

Carlos, 24, said he had heard the commotion so asked the driver to stop. Although he could not see the woman in the river, he took off his shoes, placed his phone on the ground and got into the water.

Miss Guo and her colleagues found a box of safety equipment on the side of the river and threw out a rope and two ring buoys to help Carlos. After fumbling around for a few minutes, he found the woman who he says appeared to be drunk and held her as he grabbed onto the rope.

Those standing at the side of the river used the rope to help pull them in.

When they got there, the woman was breathing okay and her family had already arrived, having called 120. In the end, she did not need to be taken to hospital and the family treated the rescuers to beer and a meal to express their gratitude.

Carlos at the site where the rescue took place, image courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily

Carlos, who has been in Guangzhou for just over a year and trades in electrical parts, said his inspiration was Zheng Yilong, the policeman who early this year lost his life saving a tourist who had fallen into the Pearl River.

Carlos is just the latest South American to impress local Chinese with his altruism. In 2011, a Uruguayan woman was awarded for jumping into a lake and rescuing a woman who had attempted suicide in Hangzhou. Last year, a Brazilian was beaten up in Dongguan for helping prevent a mugging. He was later awarded.

This year, Shenzhen introduced the country’s first Good Samaritan Laws in an attempt to make such acts the norm.