Story By: Buli Liang, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This car passenger survived for four hours before being rescued after the car he was in was crushed under an overturned 80-tonne coal lorry.

The man was only freed when authorities in the town of Housuo, which is in Qujing City in Yunnan Province in south-western China, were able to lift the tipper lorry off the crushed car.

The accident happened when the two vehicles collided on a narrow road on 15th September, with the larger coal-transporting lorry falling onto its side and landing on top of the saloon car.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

Footage shows the smaller vehicle having almost disappeared underneath the lorry, with only a part of its boot visible from the outside.

The local fire service said they spent four hours removing the coal – which reports said weighed some 80 tonnes – from the scene before two mobile cranes were brought in to right the heavy goods vehicle.

The car’s two male occupants were discovered with only one alive, and the survivor could only be freed some four hours later when the mangled roof of the vehicle was cut off by firemen.

Firefighter Liu Siyan said local residents were asked for help.

He said: “The lorry was very heavy, with two victims inside the crushed car.

“We asked the police to assemble local residents and borrowed any lifting equipment they could find, like hydraulic jacks and cranes.”

The driver of the saloon car was pronounced dead at the scene, while the surviving passenger is still being treated at a local hospital.

Local authorities are still investigating the case of the crash.

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