Chinese couple have twins after losing their only child

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After losing their only child who was a firefighter in a deadly blast two years ago, a Chinese couple welcomed their twins on last Thursday.

The 48-year-old couple, Pang Zhiguo and Fang Zhiying, had been in despair after their son deceased in the Tianjin explosion in 2015. The giant chemical blast in a container storage facility killed 165 people in the municipality in northern China.

Pang had to keep the 24-year-old’s remains away from his wife, who had been sent to hospitals for eight times due to the deterioration of her physical condition caused by agony.

The deadly blast took place in Tianjin in 2015, leaving 165 people dead. /Reuters Photo‍

The family from Hubei Province in central China had tried four rounds of In Vitro Fertilization before they became parents of a boy and a girl. The twins were born at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University.

“Having another child has been our spiritual ballast,” the father told Beijing Youth Daily on Saturday.

Many Chinese Internet users paid attention to the story, some of whom were deeply touched.

“Pray for the good health of the babies. Hope the mother could be healed by the new lives,” commented one user, Weirandetiankong, on social media platform Weibo.

“Parents who had lost their only child should be supported,” commented by one reader, Pingfanshijiedepingfanren, on the of Shanghai-based website thepaper.cn.

Others paid tribute to the young firefighter.

“So heart-breaking! The spirit of the hero shall never die,” said Xiaoye on the same website.

“The government should help the couple take care of the twins, considering their first child gave his life to the nation,” said Shangxie.

Despite the new lives, life stays quite miserable for the couple.

“My wife has been unable to work since she fell ill in 2007,” Pang said, adding that the family of four has to depend on his salary of 3,000 yuan (about 453 US dollars) per month.

“It’s hard to say whether we are happy,” he said. “Our biggest wish is for them to grow up in good health.”