A truck driver has been left dangling mid-air after a bridge collapsed due to a landslide in the southern China province of Guizhou on Tuesday morning.
Shocking footage filmed by an onlooker, shows the driver stranded in his cab with the door open as the truck’s wheels hang dangerously far over the edge of the Monkey River bridge.
The truck’s hazard lights blink rapidly as the camera pans below, revealing a terrifyingly steep drop into a valley blanketed by thick fog.
“You’re lucky to be alive – that’s dangerous,” says the onlooker as the driver calls out for help.
“You’ll have to wait for the fire service. There’s no signal,” he says.
“I called the fire department but I cannot get through,” calls the driver.
“There’s no mobile connectivity. We all don’t have it,” he replies.
According to local media, the same witness was later seen redirecting traffic and warning other vehicles not to continue down the road.
Guizhou Fire service confirmed the man had been successfully rescued in a statement posted to social media.
“At 7:40am on June 24, the Houzihe Bridge on the Xiarong Expressway collapsed due to a landslide caused by continuous heavy rain.”
“[We] immediately dispatched 23 vehicles and 89 people to the scene for rescue. There were no casualties at the scene.”
Footage of the rescue shows a team of firefighters surrounding the back of the lorry as one climbs on top of it with a ladder.
The unidentified driver can then be seen slowly pulling himself through a window in the back of the cab, trying his best not to disturb the weight balance.
In the next shot, a rescuer can be seen securing him with a thin rope and directing him to safety.
At least three unoccupied construction vehicles from nearby villages were found in the valley after going down with the collapsed bridge.
Authorities said multiple rivers had burst their banks after days of rain in China’s flood-hit province of Guizhou, where the annual east Asian summer monsoon reached its peak.
More rain is expected over the next few days, with state meteorologists warning that provinces hit by overlapping storms, including Guizhou, should be especially on their guard.
Water levels in three rivers in Guizhou’s Rongjiang county are reportedly rising rapidly and are expected to cause the worst flooding for at least 30 years.
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