The Public Security Bureau of Wangjiang county in Anqing, Anhui province, has suspended a policeman and three auxiliary officers and launched an investigation into whether they adequately responded while trying to rescue a 17-year-old student who drowned.

A statement issued by the bureau said that at about 1 pm on Friday, the police officers rushed to the scene after learning that the student was about to commit suicide by drowning herself in a river near the county's Jishui bridge.

A video clip of the incident that went viral on social media shows two officers standing on the riverbank and talking to her as she stood in the shallow part of the river. Then she suddenly rushed into deep water.

As she struggled, officers held hands and walked into the water to try to rescue her. They were able to pull her ashore, but she was confirmed dead after emergency treatment failed, the bureau said.

According to Wuhan-based portal Jiupai News of Hubei province, neither the deputy head of the county's Leiyang police station, Nie Zhuhong, nor the three auxiliary police officers could swim.

The bureau said that it has suspended the officers and set up an investigation team to look into their handling of the incident.

Chang'anjian, the official WeChat platform of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, commented that while unsuccessfully saving lives is a failure, that should not negate the overall efforts the police made, and any hasty accusations toward the officers will only hurt those who tried to save the student.

The best way forward is to improve the social and psychological service system and crisis intervention mechanism and strengthen targeted assistance, psychological counseling and legal assistance to key groups, it said.