Dai Shurong (second from right), threatens the nurse with a knife at a local hospital in Foshan, Guangdong province on Monday. The nurse was rescued one-and-a-half hours later.

Unhappy with the results of a nose job, a woman took a nurse hostage and threatened to kill her at Sulixiuying Hospital on Monday.

Foshan resident Dai Shaorong, the wife of a wealthy businessman, had her nose reshaped in February this year for about 2,000 yuan ($294), the South China Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

Dai, who is now in police custody, told the paper that she opted for the cosmetic surgical procedure after a hospital nurse, whose name was not disclosed, persuaded her.

Dai's relationship with her husband was failing, and after undergoing the cosmetic surgery in February, her nose remained "disfigured and swollen for months", it was reported.

A director of the hospital, surnamed Yan, said Dai was not satisfied with the results of the surgery and visited the hospital frequently demanding compensation.

"Each time we rejected her demand, which is probably why she decided to take the extreme course of action," he said.

Dai visited the hospital on Monday morning and asked for the nurse who gave her the idea of a nose job.

Though the particular nurse was not on duty then, the hospital staff arranged for another nurse to meet Dai on the building's third floor, the paper reported.

"Dai dropped her barrette on the three-sq-m windowsill on purpose and asked the nurse to step out and pick it up for her," the report said, adding that once the nurse obliged and wanted to come back into the room, Dai took out a knife and ordered her to stay where she was.

"Dai then climbed out and held the knife on the nurse's throat as a crowd began to gather on the ground floor," the paper reported.

"I will kill someone today before I commit suicide," she was quoted as having said. "I will kill this nurse."

Meanwhile, firefighters who had rushed to the scene spread an airbed on the ground floor to break their fall.

Police's experts attempted to negotiate with Dai, coaxing her to let go of the nurse.

"As soon as she was distracted for a brief moment, firefighters, who had climbed on the third floor, caught Dai's hand and freed the nurse," the paper reported. The police of Chancheng district, Foshan city, said they were interrogating Dai.

(China Daily June 3, 2009)