Heroic deliveryman rescues driver trapped in a car sinking in a river

A heroic delivery driver risked his own life to save another from drowning after two cars collided on a busy road.

Zhai Qiuyun was driving through the crossroads of Yexin Highway and Zhongtian Road, in Maogang Town of Shanghai’s Songjiang District, on Tuesday afternoon when he saw a car floating down the river running parallel to the road he was travelling.

Alerted to the danger, and without thinking, the brave delivery driver pulled over, grabbed a wrench from his vehicle and dived into the dangerous river to rescue the trapped driver of the car floating away.

Zhai swam to the car, climbed on to the roof and smashed the rear windscreen, cutting his hand in the process, before dragging the injured driver from the vehicle and to the safety of the river bank. And it wasn’t a moment too soon as the car sank below the river’s surface as soon as the driver was rescued.

Once Zhai saw that the victim was in a stable non life-threatening condition he set off on his way to work in wet clothes.

Only moments before Zhai’s heroic act, a CCTV monitor recorded footage of a red car ploughing straight into the white car, a result of which saw the latter vehicle go spiralling into the water at the crossroads of Yexin Highway and Zhongtian Road at 3:57pm.

The injured driver, surnamed Song, suffered a slight fracture to his left leg and rib. Interviewed in hospital after the accident, Song said he would express his sincere gratitude in person to Zhai when he had recovered and been released from hospital.