An elderly woman in China was knocked down and trapped beneath a bus Thursday afternoon in the city of Guangzhou in the southern province, Guangdong, according to CCTV News.
Immediately, somebody tried to pull her out, but failed with her hair and clothes being wrapped under the wheel.
About a dozen passengers onboard and waiting at the bus stand immediately attempted to lift the wheel on top of her. But the bus didn't budge.
One passenger screamed for help. A nearby restaurant cook put aside the dumplings she was wrapping. A cobbler put down the shoes he was working on. In minutes everyone at the scene rushed over and joined the rescue, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.
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The whole rescue operation took about 15 minutes.
The 76-year-old woman was sent to a nearby hospital as soon as two young men grabbed her out when the wheel was finally lifted.
The woman should survive, her doctor said. She has been treated for a nearly 6-inch head wound and a bone fracture in her left arm, and will stay in the hospital for a couple more days in case of any delayed hemorrhage.
The accident happened when the No.190 bus took off. It's unclear just how the woman was struck, but the driver has been taken in for further questioning.
One rescuer commented on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter that, "Please don't hit 'like'. I'm just a normal person who did a normal thing. I was just following my conscience."
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But accidents involving the elderly in China don't always have such a happy ending.
In recent years there have been several nationally controversial cases in which elderly men or women fell on streets in traffic accidents but ended up suing the people who helped them. Eventually few people dared to get involved and left the elderly to suffer. The good Samaritans who insisted on helping eventually became so cautious that they began to arrange witnesses in advance.
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