Achi news desk-
Wang Xiangan was driving along a highway in Guangdong province, a vital economic center in southern China, on Wednesday.
At around 2 a.m., Wang saw several vehicles moving in the opposite direction of the four-lane highway and another driver quickly informed him of the crash, local media reported.
Wang, a former soldier, reacted quickly, positioning his truck to block the highway, effectively stopping dozens of vehicles from reaching the danger, Jiupai News quoted Wang as saying.
Meanwhile, his wife got out of the truck to alert other drivers of the situation, it said.
“I didn’t think too much. I just wanted to stop the vehicles,” Wang told the Chinese news outlet.
Wang’s brave actions have not only been praised by Chinese social media users but also recognized by the China Workforce Development Foundation.
The foundation announced on Friday that, in cooperation with an automobile company, it had awarded Wang 10,000 yuan ($1,414).
A charity project associated with tech giant Alibaba Group Holding also gave an equal amount to Wang, the Dahe Daily newspaper reported.
Wang told the newspaper that he would donate the money to the families of the crash victims.
Local media also reported that another man knelt down to prevent cars from continuing on the highway.
The accident happened 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.
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On Saturday, one was released from hospital, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The others have improved, but the condition of one of them remains serious.
On Saturday, the Meizhou city government in Guangdong said in a statement that authorities would conduct municipal inspections on highways, railways and roads in mountainous areas.
A team led by the provincial governor is investigating the cause of the collapse, Southcn.com reported.
The Chinese government sent a vice premier 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 Qiang, to quickly deal with the tragedy.
The dispatch of Zhang, who is also a member of one of the ruling Communist Party’s top bodies, illustrates the fear of a possible public backlash over the disaster, the latest in a series of fatal infrastructure failures.
