A brave passerby has been hailed a hero after he risked his own life to save that of an elderly man who accidentally fell through the ice of a frozen river.

The incident was captured on video by an unnamed bystander at the banks of the Bailang River in Shandong, China, on January 4.

Wang Jianmin, 58, had headed for a swim when he heard the old man's cries for help coming from the nearby river.

He jumped onto the ice and began breaking it with his bare hands to reach the man who was trapped several feet from the shore.

He reached the deep water, and as his hands could not exert force, Wang then supported himself on the ice, breaking it with the weight of his body.

Step by step, he approached the elderly person, safely pulling him back to the shore.

Incredibly, he risked himself again in the freezing water when he went back to retrieve the old man's belongings before finally stepping out to dry land.

After he came back up on shore, witnesses said they noticed Wang had been scratched multiple times by the sharp ice during the rescue process.

Taxi driver Wang later told local media he was not thinking about the cold or the pain much at the time, he just wanted to quickly rescue the person.

He said: 'Faced with such a situation, anyone who can swim will lend a helping hand, especially considering that I am a winter swimming enthusiast.'

Regarding the injuries sustained during the rescue, Wang added that they were just some superficial wounds and not a big deal.