China ‘luckiest driver’ survives after half of truck teetering on edge of collapsed bridge
You was carrying 22 tonnes of mineral powder that day; the weight of truck ultimately helped stop it from falling
Less than 10 days after a Chinese truck driver narrowly escaped a landslide that left his vehicle precariously balanced on a collapsed bridge, he returned to the disaster-stricken area to assist with relief efforts, moving many online.
The 44-year-old driver from Jiangxi province, You Guochun, earned the title of “China’s luckiest driver” from the online community after miraculously surviving a landslide in southwestern Guizhou province.
On that fateful day, incessant heavy rainfall triggered a landslide, causing a long bridge above a river to collapse. You was driving his heavy-duty truck on that very bridge when the disaster struck.
He immediately applied the brakes, but nearly half of the truck surged over the broken bridge, leaving it suspended 30 metres in the air.
During a live-stream, You revealed that he was transporting 22 tonnes of mineral powder that day, and it was the truck’s weight that ultimately prevented it from plummeting.
He noted he was driving slowly at only 50km/h, keeping his foot above the brake the entire time, which allowed him to stop the vehicle just in time.