A Chinese truckie who drove his burning truck clear of a service station in Xinmin City, in northeast China, became an online sensation for his heroism.
But he also faced financial ruin, because his truck – his family’s most valuable asset – was totally destroyed in the fire.
Footage of the tractor unit, pulling a caged flatdeck semi-trailer, was run on Chinese television – showing the truck speeding through an urban area…its unknown load totally ablaze.
A tv news report ended with pictures of the driver, Sun Gang, sitting dejectedly on a rural road as his truck exploded in flames in the background.
But he shrugged off any hero tag, insisting: “I’m just an ordinary man. When an accident happened I had no time to think about anything – but to drive the car away, out of instinct.
“I believe that no person involved would leave the danger to others.”
He said that the truck fire started when a welding repair job went wrong: Sensing the danger of the fire spreading to the neighbouring service station and triggering a huge explosion in the urban area, he jumped in the truck and drove several kilometres out of town, according to an official Chinese news agency report.
Flames leapt over two metres high before he finally abandoned the truck….which was very quickly engulfed in flames.
When the tv news coverage was posted online, it reportedly attracted over 100 million views and saw Sun Gang hailed a hero.
And it prompted a happy ending: A few days after the fire, Sun Gang was contacted by a representative of Chinese truck manufacturer FAW Jiefang – and was told that the company was giving him a brand-new, 550-horsepower FAW tractor unit.
In front of assembled media, a delighted Sun Gang was duly presented with the new truck by FAW Jiefang chairman and Party Committee secretary Hu Hanjie.
FAW Jiefang said it was happy to assist in such situations – helping drivers “to set sail again…..” continuing to practice “the brand’s charitable values and beliefs.”
For his part, the appreciative driver said he would donate the profits from the first job in the new truck to charity.