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40 Passengers Escape as Bus Dangles on Bridge
Forty people in East China have escaped death after their bus teetered half on and half off a bridge way above the Yangtze River. Nobody was injured.
The half-hour drama, in Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province, happened on Wednesday after a collision between the bus and a car.
The bus, travelling at high speed on the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, was forced to brake quickly and turn after seeing a car in the middle of the road trying to turn around.
With the driver unable to prevent a collision, the bus careened to the edge of the bridge and partially over it before coming to a stop.
The accident, which happened at lunchtime, could have ended in tragedy if it were not for the quick thinking of police.
After a few seconds of silence, there were screams from the frightened passengers and it was at this moment that Zhang Wenjun, a local traffic policeman, arrived.
He immediately called for back-up then began to calm the passengers and urge them not to move or try to leave the bus, in order to prevent it toppling over the bridge.
Three minutes later, more than 30 traffic police officers arrived and soft drinks were passed into the bus in case the passengers got heatstroke.
Then under the direction of the police, the passengers quietly moved to the back of the bus, the part still on the bridge.
A few minutes later a crane arrived and the bus was moved to the middle of the bridge and the passengers were led off the bus.
The driver of the car, surnamed Song, was detained by police for allegedly breaking traffic rules. Despite speeding, the bus driver has not been charged with any violations.
Traffic on the bridge was restored to order at about 1 pm after the passengers had left the location.
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