Laqini Bayika, an NPC deputy for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region delegation who lost his life as he saved a boy who fell through ice on a frozen lake in January, is missed but his legacy will be carried on, a fellow NPC deputy who also took part in the rescue said as he recalled the brave act amid obvious emotion.

"The Xinjiang delegation has lost a good deputy and I've lost a good brother," Musarjan Nurdun, Party chief of a village in Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture, said before the opening of the National People's Congress annual session on Friday.

Laqini was a herdsman from the Tajik ethnic group who viewed patrolling the China-Pakistan border in the Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous prefecture as his natural duty. "He was a member of the herdsman border control team. What's more, he was a hero on the Pamir Plateau," Musarjan said.

On Jan 4, Musarjan and Laqini, 41, were receiving training together in Kashgar city. When they passed an artificial lake, they heard a cry for help and saw the boy in danger, Musarjan recalled.

"Laqini charged towards the lake and I followed. When he reached out to the boy who had already fell through the ice, he also fell into the freezing water," he said. "He used all his energy to lift the boy out of the water and shouted 'save the boy' repeatedly."

When his body was recovered, it was in the position as if he was still lifting the boy up, Musarjan said. "Laqini's father said his son's action was no surprise. It just hurt immensely to see him depart in that way. The family is proud of him. His 13-year-old daughter said it was the choice her father was bound to make."

As an NPC deputy, Laqini visited many pastoral areas over the past three years and handed in proposals on how to build a stronger herdsman border control team, Musarjan said. "He had been discussing his suggestions that he planned to hand in this year before the accident happened.

"Laqini can no longer be here for the NPC annual session. I want to say to him that good brother, we will help you accomplish your unfulfilled wishes. We believe you will continue to roam China's sky as an eagle on the Pamir Plateau," Musarjan said.