China son calls mum to say he ‘might not return’ while saving driver from burning truck

Good Samaritan ride-hailing hero braves dense smoke driving at snail’s pace through 10km-long tunnel with injured man’s leg dangling from car

A young Chinese man who risked his life to save a driver from a burning truck, called his mother during his heroic act to tell her that he “might not return”.

The actions of Zhang Jian, 24, who is from eastern China’s Shandong province and was on his way home from central China’s Shanxi province at the time of his intervention, have moved many people online.

While passing through the Baotashan Tunnel, Zhang saw a burning truck. Two people were next to the vehicle, one was seriously injured and the other was waving for help.

Together with his ride-hailing passenger, Zhang decided to immediately stop the car in the billowing smoke and carry the injured man into his car.

They discovered that there had been a rear-end collision, and the two men were drivers of the cars involved.

As they could not get the injured driver’s leg completely into the car, Zhang had to drive the initial 10 minutes with his front door open.

As a result, dense smoke flowed into his car. They poured drinking water on their bodies to buy time.