‘Great Chinese women’: tourists praised for preventing serious accident in South Korea

A group of Chinese travellers in South Korea successfully brought a runaway coach under control after the driver lost consciousness while driving, triggering heated discussions online.On Chinese social media, several passengers shared what they experienced on the limousine to Incheon International Airport in the afternoon of July 11.As the coach with 10 to 20 passengers headed towards the expressway close to Terminal 1, it suddenly bumped into the roadbed.A Chinese woman, surnamed Sun, was sitting in the second row behind the driver, and shouted in Chinese: “The driver collapsed!”She immediately rushed to the driver’s seat to control the steering wheel.Another Chinese woman also rushed to the driver’s seat and pressed the brake pedal under Sun’s instructions.The woman who goes by the handle @AirFlowApril said they made a great team and successfully stopped the bus on the right side of the road.Some online observers speculated that intense work conditions might have contributed to the driver collapsing at the wheel. Photo: 163.comThey then rushed to rescue the driver. Sun and several other passengers performed CPR. Another young woman called police and, since she was too nervous to speak, @AirFlowApril took over to communicate in English.She said a passenger, whose nationality she did not know, stopped another bus on the road and asked its driver to inform police of their location.Police arrived soon and continued performing CPR on the driver. The passengers left on another bus to catch their flight.The passengers who posted online said they continued searching Korean news reports to check the driver’s status.Further ReadingAccording to a comment under a report by cfnews.kr, the driver died.Sun said she searched all over the driver’s clothes and his seat, but could not find any medicine.“We tried our best to save him. I heard the golden time to save a person following a heart attack is four minutes. It was already half an hour when we left.”South Korean online observers called for the airport limousine operating system to examine its staff scheduling and improve employee benefits.“The intensity of the work appears to be a major issue. Coach drivers repeatedly drive, load and unload hundreds of packages daily with insufficient breaks. It is time to improve the work environment,” one said.Tourists watch the Royal Guard Changing Ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea — a highly popular destination for Chinese travellers. Photo: Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesOn Chinese social media, many praised the Chinese women for saving all the passengers and attempting to rescue the driver.“You are great Chinese women,” one said.Another said: “You have handled the emergency extraordinarily well despite the language barrier.”@AirFlowApril said although she felt sorry about the driver, she felt proud about their quick and brave rescue efforts.She said she decided to receive first aid training later, so that she could save more lives in the future.