Among the 37 victims of Saturday's rainstorm in Beijing was Ding Zhijian, who drowned after his vehicle became stuck in 4 meters of water in downtown near Guangqumen Bridge.

The 34-year-old editor of children's magazine Aaxiong was driving to his office around 7 pm when his Hyundai SUV stalled in a flooded area under the bridge.

The water quickly rose and swallowed his car and four others within a halfhour. The water pressure made it impossible for Ding to open his door.

He tried to break the windows, banging his head against the glass, but couldn't. Ding called his wife, Qiu Yan, around 7:30 pm and asked her to call the police. He told her that when he tried to call 110, the police hotline, the line was busy.

"His wife told him to find other tools like a lifting jack, which was in his trunk, but he may be out of strength at that time," his uncle said.

Police rushed to the bridge after they received the report at 7:34 pm. "But the water was more than 3 meters deep, and it was difficult to find his car," said Cui Jinbo, from the green team of Dongcheng district.

Cui dove into the water and located two cars, but he couldn't tell which one belonged to Ding.

"It was difficult to break the window with my feet, so we had to pull them out of the water one by one," Cui said, adding that it took more than half an hour to locate Ding's SUV.

At 10:20 pm, Ding and his car were pulled out of the water.

Ding, along with his wife, was from East China's Jiangsu province. They have both worked in Beijing for many years and have a 3-year-old daughter. Ding lived in the Ganluyuan community in Chaoyang district.

(China Daily 07/25/2012 page5)