A Spanish hiker who provided first aid to save the life of a drowning boy was awarded for his heroic act yesterday by the government of Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province.

The 43-year-old backpacker identified by his online name Pep is the first foreigner to receive this award since the award was set up in 1994 oakley dispatch II Sunglasses, today's Yangtze Evening News reported.

When the two-year-old boy was lifted from a pond by a migrant worker in Xinzhuang Town on April 5 but he already stopped breathing and his belly bulged with water. Hearing his mother's crying, Pep rushed to the boy, tore up his clothes and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation by pressing his chest rhythmically. Three minutes later, the boy threw up water and regained consciousness.

Both Pep and the migrant worker received 2,000 yuan (US$316) in cash award, the paper said.

A Chinese who claimed to be Pep's friend said on the Internet that Pep just quit his teaching job in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province to go on a long journey to Mohe, a city in northeast Heilongjiang Province bordering Russia.