A young unidentified woman was found alive but unconscious in a river with her eyes closed, floating on her back, Hangzhou Daily reported on Thursday.

Police arrived at the scene after receiving a report that the body of a woman was seen in a river in Ruoheng town, Wenling city, Zhejiang province, on Sunday morning.

When rescue workers pulled her out of the water, they discovered that she was still alive.

According to the report by Hangzhou Daily, the woman said she took more than 20 cold medicine pills and went out alone to the shore of a river after quarreling with her husband that morning.

She said she did not remember how she got into the water and only knew that she choked and fell into a sound sleep.

She was an inadequate swimmer and the way she was floating confused people.

Hua Wei, a senior staff member of the National Water Life Saving Association, was quoted as saying the medicated woman didn't realize she had fallen into the water and her body must have been very relaxed.

"However, it's almost impossible to be as lucky as that woman was," said Hua. She didn't drown even though she couldn't swim, Hua added.

He suggested that the best self-help approach when drowning is to keep calm and shout for help in order to facilitate rescue workers.