A BRITISH diplomat has become a hero in China after a video of him rescuing a student from a swollen river racked up tens of millions of views on social media.

Britain’s mission in Chongqing said Monday that its Consul General Stephen Ellison leapt into action at the weekend to save a woman who had fallen into a river coursing through a nearby tourist town.

“Due to the timely rescue, the woman quickly recovered her breathing and consciousness,” read the post on the consulate’s official Weibo page.

Ellison, 61, was visiting the town Saturday when he heard a cry from a crowd of people as the woman fell into the water.

Video footage shared by the consulate and various Chinese media outlets shows Ellison jumping fully clothed into the river, where the unnamed woman was struggling to stay afloat.

Ellison’s good deed — saving a drowning woman in Chongqing — deserves “big praise,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during a regular press meeting yesterday, noting that he had seen the media reports online.

The Chinese ambassador to the U.K., Liu Xiaoming, also praised the British diplomat, saying: “Salute to Stephen Ellison, Britain’s new consul general in Chongqing. His name will be remembered not only in the Chongqing area but around China. His act of heroism and kindness will be a much-told and far-spread story of China-U.K. friendship.”

“We are all immensely proud of our Chongqing Consul General,” the U.K. diplomatic mission in China tweeted Monday.

The hashtag #British Consul-General in Chongqing saves female student who fell in the water had gained almost 40 million acknowledgements on Weibo by Monday evening.

“For a man of such advanced age to save another person from the water in such cold weather, regardless of his own safety, he is a hero and gentleman!” read one comment, liked nearly 2,000 times.

Ellison took up his post in June this year after serving as a senior diplomat at the British embassy in Beijing since 2014.

(SD-Agencies)