A Chinese driver has been praised for helping reduce the number of casualties from a highway collapse that killed 48 people
BEIJING: A Chinese truck driver was seen in local media on Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from plunging down the slope after a section of road collapsed in the country’s mountainous south, killing at least 48 people. Was praised.
Wang Xiangnan was driving on a highway in Guangdong province, an important economic hub in southern China, on Wednesday. According to local media reports, at around 2 a.m., Wang saw several vehicles traveling in the opposite direction of the four-lane highway and a fellow driver soon informed him about the accident.
Wang, a former soldier, responded quickly and parked his truck to block the highway, effectively preventing dozens of vehicles from moving toward danger, Jiupai News quoted Wang as saying. Meanwhile, his wife got out of the truck to alert other drivers about the situation.
“I didn’t think much. I just wanted to stop the vehicles,” Wang told the Chinese news outlet.
Wang’s courageous actions not only received praise from Chinese social media users, but also recognition from the China Worker Development Foundation.
The foundation announced Friday that it had awarded Wang a 10,000 yuan ($1,414) award in partnership with a car company. A charity project linked to tech giant Alibaba Group Holding also gave a similar amount to Wang, Dahe Daily reported. Wang told the newspaper that he would donate the money to the families of the accident victims.
Local media also reported that another man had knelt down to stop cars from moving on the highway.
The accident occurred after a month of heavy rain in Guangdong. Some of the 23 vehicles that fell into the deep gorge caught fire, causing thick clouds of smoke.
About 30 people were admitted to the hospital. State broadcaster CCTV said one was released from hospital on Saturday. The condition of others is improving, but the condition of one remains critical.
On Saturday, the city government of Meizhou in Guangdong said in a statement that authorities would conduct citywide checks on expressways, railways and roads in mountainous areas. A team led by the provincial governor is investigating the cause of the building collapse, SouthCN.com reports.
The Chinese government sent a vice prime minister to oversee recovery efforts and urged better safety measures following calls from President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s No. 2 official, Premier Li Kiang, for a swift handling of the tragedy .
The dispatch from Zhang Guoqing, who is also a member of one of the ruling Communist Party’s key bodies, reflects concern over the potential public reaction to the disaster, the latest in a series of deadly infrastructure failures.