China city to award Uruguayan woman for "Good Samaritan" deed

HANGZHOU, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A non-governmental organization based in Hangzhou said Wednesday it will give a Uruguayan woman 3,000 yuan (476 U.S. dollars) for saving a drowning Chinese woman.

Maria Fernanda Gomez Arregui and her husband were walking around the city's West Lake on Oct. 13 when they saw a middle-aged Chinese woman drowning, according to local media reports.

Maria jumped into the lake and rescued the woman. Maria and her husband left the woman after taking her to the police.

"We decided to give her an award of 3,000 yuan for her heroic deed," said Jiang Jiansheng, secretary-general of the Hanzhou Foundation for Justice and Courage.

Maria's "Good Samaritan" deed has won widespread praise in China after witnesses posted photos online of her rescuing the woman.

Earlier last month, a two-year-old girl was callously ignored by passersbys after she was run over by two vans. The injured girl died in hospital later, sparking a nationwide debate on the country's moral standards.

Experts and the public have called for so called "Good Samaritan" laws -- like some Western countries have including the United States, Canada and Australia -- to be introduced in China to protect people who help strangers from being sued.