Buddy, I am not going to leave you alone
Bo Liao, a high school student at Beichuan Middle School, was rescued from the debris and was since amputated from his left knee and below. The boy, who stood beside him in the picture, is Yang Li, a student from the same school who stayed behind to help with the rescue.
The seventeen-year-old Yang Li loves dancing. Li and five other boys went to a rehearsal at noon on May 12. The earthquake struck right after their rehearsal at the gym and they were lucky enough to escape. When Yang Li returned to the scene only to find his school had collapsed and he immediately put himself into the rescue efforts. By early evening, Bo Liao was discovered trapped beneath cement blocks, and in the meantime, rescue workers asked everyone to evacuate. Yang Li didn't.
He stayed close to his friend in need. Next morning, the rescue team arrived on the scene and quickly assessed the situation. Bo Liao was able to move his right leg, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his left leg, not even an inch. Yang Li went back to check his friend and helped with the intravenous line because Bo Liao could not be immediately pulled out. "I was calling for help in the picture," Li Yang explained, "I wasn't even aware of the camera at the time."
The middle school which the boys attended was one of the many schools that were hit the hardest by the earthquake, only a little over 200 students survived among a total of 600 students from Class 2007. Li's parents are safe and sound, but his 10-year-old sister sustained a head injury from a collapsed school building.
Liao was sent to a local hospital after a successful rescue; however, his left leg had to be amputated from the knee down. He was since being transferred to a hospital in Chongqing for further treatment. Both of Liao's parents were working in Shenzhen at the time. Dailiang Liao, the father, had been desperately trying to reach his son, he recognized Bo Liao from this picture which was published in newspaper two days later. "Although his face was swollen, I can recognize my son no matter what," He said. In the afternoon of the 14th of May, he finally heard his son's voice - "Dad, I lost my leg," the boy cried on the phone.