Driver dies after truck slams into motorcycle

By Dong Zhen  |   2008-10-15  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

ONE person was killed and two were seriously injured yesterday when a cargo truck hit a motorcycle taxi in Minhang District and left the scene, authorities said.

The motorcycle driver died and his two passengers were hurt around 8:30am when the truck made an abrupt turn in the middle of a highway and the two vehicles collided, witness Zhang Yan told Shanghai Daily. Zhang, an Anhui Province native, was following her colleagues on another motorcycle cab.

The two other women were also migrants who worked at the Shanghai Bifengtang Foods Co Ltd on Lianhua Road.

Zhang said they waved down two motorcycle taxis after leaving their factory. The motor-cabs, though illegal, are widely used across the city.

Zhang rode on the second motorbike while Chen Jing, 20, and Yang Jianfang, 23, shared the first vehicle.

"The accident happened right after their motorbike drove down a ramp to the main roadway," Zhang said.

"During the first 10 to 15 minutes, I was holding Yang in my arms trying to stop the bleeding from her head and couldn't make a call with my mobile phone," she said.

Zhang said paramedics arrived on the scene minutes after she finally managed to dial the emergency number. The driver was lying under the truck's wheels, she said.

"I could hardly look at him," she said. "But during the first few minutes, I saw him widening his eyes, and he showed small signs of life.

"But when the paramedics arrived, the onlookers told me he had already passed way.

The two survivors were rushed to Minhang District Central Hospital.

Chen, from Anhui Province, said the truck wheels might have rolled over her legs, which were both broken.

Yang, a Jiangxi Province native, suffered head injuries and complained of body pain late yesterday afternoon.

Zhang said she saw four men in their late 20s or early 30s get out of the truck and look around. But they disappeared before police arrived, leaving their vehicle at the scene.