Firefighter who soothed Hong Kong kindergarten pupils after bus crash tells how empathy helped him to ‘save hearts’ of upset infants
- Chan Yee-leung, 39, said he acted as if the children were his own daughters
- The incident was filmed after a crash at a Kwun Tong primary school on January 18 and was widely shared
Saving a fragile heart is as important as saving a life, said a veteran firefighter widely praised as warm-hearted after a video in which he calmed a group of distraught infants after a bus crash went viral online last month.
Twenty-five kindergarten pupils, aged between two and five, were in visible shock, with some wailing, after two school buses collided at lunchtime on January 18 outside Kwun Tong Government Primary School on Sau Ming Road. One student and a nanny were slightly injured.
When senior firefighter Chan Yee-leung, 39, arrived at the scene, he took off his helmet and loosened his uniform.
He then squatted down to ask a crying girl “How old are you?”, his voice cheerful. Within 10 seconds, the girl and her classmates stopped crying.
Revisiting the incident, where he had to deal with a big group of children for the first time, the father of two daughters, aged seven and eight, said he acted as if the children were his own.
“Saving someone’s heart is also of the utmost importance because a major accident would leave a psychological mark on small children,” he said.