In the early morning of this May Day holiday, a sudden highway collapse accident pushed many travelers to the brink of life and death, and even claimed 48 precious lives, plunging these families into deep grief. Looking at the accident afterwards, in fact, there were signs of a landslide before the accident, but unfortunately these signs could not be fully taken into account and responded to in a timely manner, and no one expected that such a big tragedy would occur. Behind this heart-wrenching accident, there are also many deeds that are shining with the brilliance of humanity to warm people's hearts, some drivers at the scene desperately rescued 6 people, and some elderly people knelt down to stop the car to avoid more casualties.
At about 2:10 a.m. on May 1, a road surface collapsed near K11+900m on Meida Expressway towards Fujian. According to the latest statistics, 48 people have died in the landslide, another 3 people have yet to be identified, and 30 people have been injured but not in danger of life. After the accident, Meizhou City quickly activated the emergency response mechanism, mobilized 577 rescue personnel of various types and 64 rescue vehicles, and launched a rescue operation in a race against time.
During this disaster, many passing drivers and passengers showed amazing courage and selfless love. Regardless of their personal safety, they got out of the car to save people, and even knelt in the fast lane to signal the vehicles behind them to stop. Among them, a driver named Liu Yongjin, when passing by the accident site, immediately stopped to participate in the rescue and successfully rescued 6 trapped people, including 3 adults and 3 children.
At the same time, medical institutions in Meizhou also acted quickly, opened a "green channel" for the treatment of the wounded, and organized 12 provincial-level medical experts, 20 municipal-level medical experts and more than 200 medical staff to carry out multidisciplinary consultations. Thanks to the efforts of all parties, the injured received timely and effective medical treatment.
In the face of the disaster, citizens also reached out to help. After learning that blood was needed to rescue the wounded, many caring citizens went to the blood donation point overnight to donate blood, providing valuable blood resources for the treatment of the wounded.
It is worth mentioning that during the rescue process, there were some touching moments. In order to prevent the vehicle from continuing to drive towards the collapse area, an elderly man climbed over the guardrail regardless of the danger and went against the road to the other side of the collapse section and waved his hand. When he found that waving his hand was useless, he did not hesitate to kneel in the middle of the fast lane, and in this way successfully stopped the vehicle behind him, he was Mr. Rao's father-in-law.
When Mr. Rao's family noticed that the highway ahead of them had collapsed and tried to stop the following vehicles with their phone's flashing lights and waving hands, they found that these efforts were almost ineffective. One by one, the vehicles fell from the landslide, and Mr. Rao's family fell into despair.
At this time, Mr. Rao's father-in-law made a surprising decision. He climbed over the guardrail and drove backwards to the other side of the collapsed road, waving and shouting loudly, trying to draw the attention of passing vehicles to the danger ahead. However, due to the distance and the speed of the vehicle, many drivers did not notice his presence.
Seeing a car continue to drive towards the danger zone, Mr. Rao's father-in-law was anxious. In a hurry, he knelt in the middle of the fast lane without hesitation. This kneeling finally forced to stop the oncoming vehicle, in the driver probe scolded "don't you want to die", an aunt in the car saw the deep pit in front of her, and after a while, she knelt down on the opposite side and said thank you loudly.
Afterwards, Mr. Rao's father-in-law said in an interview: "I knelt down before anyone parked. Although it was dangerous at the time, I didn't want to see more people lose their lives. I hope that my actions will remind more people to pay attention to driving safety. ”
And the signs of this harrowing accident actually appeared a few days before it happened. According to a media visit, the section of the road where the incident occurred belongs to the eastern extension of the Meizhou-Dapu Expressway, occupying the mountain in the Anqian Village section of Chayang Town, Dapu County. Construction of the East Extension began on January 1, 2012, and the first expressway running through Tai Po County was opened to traffic three years later.
At the foot of the mountain, more than 400 meters down from the collapsed section, there is a large pond reservoir built in the sixties and seventies of the last century. Usually when it rains, the water flows down from the mountains, and the villagers store the water and then divert it from the reservoir for irrigation. At the end of 2023, a farmer from Fujian contracted to breed ducks in the Datang Reservoir, and according to the reactions of local villagers and what they saw at the scene, the following abnormalities occurred before the accident.
On April 28, Yatang employees Chen Yafei and He Shenwei noticed a sudden increase in the water flow coming down from the mountain, sometimes strong and sometimes weak. In particular, one of the currents lasted for about an hour, preventing them from going downstream to feed the ducks. The water level of the reservoir has also risen significantly, and the water flow has become muddy with mud and rocks. This situation indicates that the moisture content in the mountain is increasing, which may be caused by deformation or cracks in the interior of the mountain.
There are also changes in water level and quality, as the water collected from the reservoir is often yellow and contains heavy sediment due to the reinforcement and leveling of the mountain during the construction of the highway. The situation only improved after the road was opened to traffic, but the water flow in the days leading up to the accident had become muddy again, suggesting that the mountain may be in unstable motion.
There were also small spotted landslides in the vicinity, with Yatang employees and road maintenance workers on nearby National Highway 235 reporting that a few days before the incident, there were some small spotted landslides in nearby mountains. These small landslides can be a precursor to a large-scale landslide.
In addition, in recent days, Tai Po County has been under an orange warning for high winds and heavy rain, and this adverse weather condition has further exacerbated the risk of mountain instability.
In addition, according to the observation of highway maintenance personnel, landslides have occurred as soon as it rains recently, and they frequently deal with small landslides. This indicates that the mountain is already in a very unstable state and that a large-scale landslide could occur at any time.
According to the historical record of geological disasters, in April and May last year, affected by continuous heavy rains, there have been several slope dangers in the direction of Meida Expressway to Tai Po, and traffic control and reinforcement works have been carried out. This indicates a high risk of geohazards in the region.
It would be great if such natural disasters could be prevented before they occur, but everyone knows that even if there are omens in them, there are many aspects that are beyond the reach of manpower, and we can only prevent them as early as possible. On May 2, the Office of the State Council Safety Commission issued an emergency notice, requiring "further strengthening safety precautions in the field of transportation, in-depth analysis and judgment of the characteristics of safety risks in the field of transportation during the flood season, focusing on key points such as highways, important national and provincial trunk roads, along railways, and urban rail transit, and increasing inspection and monitoring and investigation of potential safety hazards." ”