A three-day training session of emergency first aid instructors opened yesterday at the Beijing Shanshui Hotel.

Co-organized by the Hong Kong St John’s Ambulance Corp and the Beijing Emergency Medical Centre, it aims to teach first aid and show people how to escape from disasters.

More than 100 people took part in the training. Most of them were selected from high-risk occupations where the incidence of accidents and disasters is much higher - public security officers, firemen, hotel personnel, and club employees, for example. Volunteers in first aid also joined in.

"Before the training class, I had almost no idea about first aid. It will be very helpful to me, because I will know what to do the next time I encounter a traffic accident. Maybe I will be able to save a life," said Wang Chunquan, a long-distance bus driver from the Beijing Bafangda Transport Company.

Fine arts publishing house editor Wang Taijun decided to become a first aid volunteer after hearing about it from a friend.

"First aid skills would not only help others but also myself if a disaster should suddenly happen," he said.

Emergency rescue doctor Yang Pingfen, from the Beijing Emergency Medical Centre, said many lives could be saved if people knew how to deal with accidents and injuries.

He estimated only about one in 150 Beijingers knew how to use first aid. This proportion should increase to one in 60 in time for the Olympic Games in 2008, the municipal government advises.