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A suicide attempt by a 50-year-old woman in China, who jumped into a river, was apparently thwarted because she was too obese to sink.The woman is recovering at the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital after authorities rescued her from the two-metre-deep river in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, last week.Police were called after witnesses reported seeing a body floating on the river's surface, 'Global Times' reported.However, after dispatching a boat to inspect what was thought to be a corpse floating five metre away from the riverbank, police discovered the woman was in fact alive.Authorities then rescued the unnamed woman using flotation devices and ropes.She was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment, the report said.

The woman later told authorities that she had attempted suicide following a series of arguments with her husband.Experts believe the woman owes her buoyancy to her high body fat percentage and the pollution that has altered the water density of the river.