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Ambulance ‘takes 12 hours to reach hospital’ as Chinese motorists block emergency lane
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 25 February, 2015, 5:57pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 25 February, 2015, 8:40pm
Keira Lu Huang [email protected]
A photo published on weibo showing the ambulance blocked by traffic using the emergency lane of a Sichuan highway on Monday. Photo: Weibo
An ambulance with three injured people inside reportedly took 12 hours to reach hospital in China after motorists blocked the emergency lane of a highway during a traffic jam.
A doctor in the ambulance was forced to use the vehicle’s loudhailer to shout hundreds of times to ask drivers to move their cars that were blocking the ambulance.
An accident blocking the Yaxi highway, in Sichuan province, meant Monday’s journey by the doctor, Wu Jiang, doctor of Liangshan Prefecture’s emergency centre, and his patients between Xichang and Chongqing – which should have taken about an hour – ended up taking 12 hours, the Chengdu Economic Daily reported.
The three patients had reportedly suffered back injuries, but it is not known how serious their injuries were.
Mainland drivers often break the law by using the emergency lanes on the nation’s highways when there are accidents or traffic delays.
Wu, who found the emergency lane blocked by cars as he tried to pass in the ambulance, called out, “Please move to the left and clear the emergency lane”, hundreds of times using the loudhailer. But some drivers refused to move.
Police are now using photos posted online and surveillance footages to investigate eight vehicles which were reportedly filmed occupying the emergency lane.
Drivers may face punishment if found guilty.
