A 36-year-old man in Nanyang, Henan province, lost his life while rescuing eight children from a burning cornstalk stack, Dahe Daily reported.

The fire was allegedly started by one of the eight children playing hide-and-seek in the stack on Feb 15, according to a witness from the village.

The man, Jia Youqiang, saw the burning stack and rushed into the fire to rescue the children. However, he was overcome by the smoke and died of suffocation.

The parents of the rescued children have agreed to pay a total compensation of 240,000 yuan ($39,250) to Jia's family.