How far would you go to save a life? Scrambling from the wreckage of his school after an earthquake, a nine-year-old Sichuan boy rescued two unconscious friends. 'I was hall monitor,' he said afterwards. 'It is my job to look after my classmates.'

Whether dragging a friend from a blazing car, masterminding a search far below the earth's surface, or recovering astronauts from an aborted space mission, Rescue reveals the ingenuity, courage and doggedness of the human spirit all over the world.