BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after part of the road in the mountainous south of the country had collapsed and at least 48 people had died.
Wang Xiangnan drove along the highway in Guangdong province, a vital economic hub in southern China, on Wednesday. Around 2 a.m., Wang saw several vehicles driving in the opposite direction of the four-lane highway and a fellow driver quickly informed him of the collapse, local media reported.
Wang, a former soldier, reacted quickly and positioned his truck to block the highway, effectively stopping dozens of vehicles from entering danger, Jiupai News quoted Wang as saying. Meanwhile, his wife got out of the truck to inform other drivers of the situation.
“I didn’t think too much. I just wanted to stop the vehicles,” Wang told the Chinese news channel.
Wang’s courageous actions not only earned praise from Chinese social media users, but also recognition from the China Worker Development Foundation.
The foundation announced on Friday that it had awarded Wang 10,000 yuan ($1,414) in partnership with a car company. A charity project linked to tech giant Alibaba Group Holding also gave an equal amount to Wang, Dahe Daily newspaper reported. Wang told the newspaper that he would donate the money to the families of the collapse victims.
Local media also reported that another man had knelt to prevent cars from entering the highway.
The accident occurred after a month of heavy rains in Guangdong. Some of the 23 vehicles that plunged into the deep ravine burst into flames, sending up thick clouds of smoke.
About 30 people were hospitalized. One was released from hospital on Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The others were doing better, but one is still in serious condition.
On Saturday, Guangdong’s Meizhou city government said in a statement that authorities would conduct citywide checks on highways, railways and roads in mountainous areas. A team led by the provincial governor is investigating the cause of the collapse, Southcn.com reports.
The Chinese government had sent a vice premier to oversee recovery efforts and urged better security measures after calls from President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s No. 2 official, Premier Li Qiang, to quickly address the tragedy.
The broadcast by Zhang, who is also a member of one of the ruling Communist Party’s leading bodies, illustrates concerns about a possible public response to the disaster, the latest in a series of deadly infrastructure failures.
