China’s government awarded martyr status to a firefighter who died as he tried to rescue people trapped by heavy flooding that has pummelled Beijing and surrounding areas in the heaviest rain in at least 140 years.
Feng Zhen, a firefighter in Beijing’s Haidian district, was washed away by flood waters as he tried to rescue three people from a school building on Monday. The people escaped the area safely, but after receiving medical treatment Feng “died a heroic death”, according to state media.
