Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment two village officials rummage through a pile of limestone to save a lorry driver’s wife buried underneath after a crash as her face suffers chemical burns.

Weibo Village official and policeman Li Yuequang was on patrol with his colleague Guo Baojun when they came across the wreckage of two crashed lorries at 2:10am local time on 14th June.

The accident happened in the county of Suixi in Huaibei City in East China’s Anhui Province when heavy goods vehicle driver Mr Zhao rear-ended a tipper lorry transporting a shipment of limestone to a construction site.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

Mr Zhao’s lorry tractor became mangled during the impact, and the limestone poured into the cabin when the tipper lorry overturned, covering him and his wife in limestone.

Li recalled: “The cabin was badly misshapen and we couldn’t get in. We pulled the male driver out and found he had a broken right leg. 

“He couldn’t move, but he said: ‘Save my wife. There’s someone else inside.’”

Rescue footage shows Li and his partner digging through the limestone using their bare hands, with Mr Zhao’s wife partially visible as she is trapped face down in the pile.

After they freed her, video then shows her barely able to open her eyes and suffering painful chemical burns on her face as a result of being stuck in the limestone, which can cause alkali burns.

Li and other witnesses offered Mr Zhao’s wife bottled water to wash her face, which is red and swollen from the burns.

She can be heard thanking the officer, saying: “A minute later and I would’ve been dead!”

Mr Zhao was driven to Huaibei People’s Hospital for treatment of a broken right leg and chest fracture.

His wife was treated for burn injuries. 

Both are in stable condition as an investigation into the accident continues.