A dedicated firefighter has won the hearts of many Chinese netizens after pictures showing him fainting after doing all he could to save a suicidal woman went viral online.

The woman fell into a 20-meter-deep dry well in Sigao village, central China’s Anyang city on Sunday afternoon. The city’s firefighting division was soon called to the scene, and young firefighter Hu Yueyan was lowered down the well head first in a bid to rescue the woman.

But the woman, who reportedly has a psychiatric disorder, refused to be extracted the first time Hu went down, and he had to try again for a second shot. While oxygen was being pumped into the hole from canisters throughout the process, the firefighter was still struggling to breathe while trying to tame the struggling woman.

The woman and firefighter were finally pulled free after a 20-minute long rescue operation, with Hu falling unconscious as soon as he emerged from the well.