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Driver donates award money

Writer: Zhang Yu  |  Editor: Zhang Chanwen  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2024-05-06

Wang Xiangnan, a truck driver who used his vehicle to block the highway and prevent more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road collapsed, said he would donate award money to the families of the victims.

At about 2:10 a.m. Wednesday (May 1), a landslide occurred on the Chayang section of the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province. The death toll had reached 48 as of Thursday, according to Xinhua.

                    Wang Xiangnan and his truck. File photo

Wang was driving along the highway in Guangdong. At around 2 a.m., Wang saw several vehicles moving in the wrong direction on the four-lane highway, and a fellow driver soon informed him about the collapse, local media reported.

Wang, a former soldier, reacted swiftly by positioning his truck to block the highway, and his wife got out of the truck to alert other drivers about the situation. Their actions effectively stopped dozens of vehicles from advancing into extreme danger.

“I didn’t think too much. Saving people was an instinctive reaction. I just wanted to stop the vehicles,” Wang told the Workers’ Daily, a Chinese newspaper.

“In retrospect, I was actually quite scared. I was afraid that the cars behind me wouldn’t be able to stop and would hit the truck, but I was more afraid that they would drive off the road,” Wang was quoted as saying.

Wang’s courageous actions not only garnered praise from Chinese social media users, but also recognition from the China Worker Development Foundation.

On Friday, the foundation announced that it had awarded Wang 10,000 yuan (US$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, the Daily reported. Wang told the newspaper that he would donate the money to the families of the collapse victims.

Chinese internet company NetEase said yesterday that its charity foundation decided to award 100,000 yuan to Wang and his wife to pay tribute to their bravery, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. 


Wang Xiangnan, a truck driver who used his vehicle to block the highway and prevent more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road collapsed, said he would donate award money to the families of the collapse victims.