A police cadet and her father are being praised for their bravery after they rescued five people from a car that was sinking in a ditch in Fuyang city, Anhui province, CCTV News reported.

On Jan 27, the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, a white car fell into a ditch in Funan county and landed upside-down. The vehicle was sinking fast and filling up with cold water, trapping the five people inside.

A man named Lyu Zhenkang and his daughter Lyu Zhihui came across the accident while driving on the road.

Without any hesitation, they rushed to pull the drowning people out of the submerged vehicle.

The father and other passersby immediately took off their coats and went into the water. With joint effort, they rescued the three people in the backseat.

The daughter, not a swimmer, called out to more people for help. Seven to eight men answered her call and joined the rescue.

After several tries, the group turned the car on one side and took down the side door. Finally, the driver and the female passenger in the front seat were pulled out.

By then, about 20 minutes had passed. Due to a long time spent underwater, they were unconscious and not breathing.

After laying them on the ground, the father and daughter performed CPR and artificial respiration. As a police cadet, the daughter learned the first-aid skills at school.

"The female passenger is a young girl my age. The only thought I had at that moment was to save her," the younger Lyu said.

After four to five minutes, the girl began breathing again.

As the five victims were picked up by emergency vehicles, the father gave his coat to one of them to keep warm. Four are now in stable condition, and the fifth has seen improvements despite more serious injuries.

"If such an emergency happened again, I would do the same thing no matter what. As a police cadet, I cannot shrink from my duties," the daughter Lyu said.