Young Couple Die in Accident on Way Home for Spring Festival

From QQ:

Husband & Wife Riding Motorcycle Home Suffer Traffic Accident, 1-Year-Old Child Orphaned

February 3, the 23rd day of the twelfth month of the lunar year, aka “the Little New Year” [the day when Chinese people begin to prepare for the Spring Festival Holiday], a terrible traffic accident happened in Wuzhou of Guangxi province, on the border of the Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. A young couple who were riding a motorcycle on their way home for the Spring Festival Holiday from Guangdong’s Jiangmen to Guangxi’s Pingnan were hit by a dump truck. Both of them died instantly at the scene.

At the scene of the incident, the deceased’s brother and sister-in-law collapsed on the flower-bed by the side of the road, the two of them from time to time crying in each other’s arms, raising a cell phone in hand to tell the family back home the bad news, but then putting it down and hanging up just as it was brought close to the ear.

At 9:45am on February 3rd, about 1km away from the Wufeng Level 1 Toll Station, the couple crashed head on with a dump truck heading the other way, dying instantly at the scene. According to Wuzhou police, the location where the incident happened was less than 60m away from the slow zone dedicated to the “motorcycle army” [referring to the large number of motorcycles riding together carrying people on their way back to their hometowns that are commonly seen during this holiday season].

The couple who died in the accident had just turned 25 years old this year. The husband’s name was Zhang Yaoliang, the wife’s name was Lu Jinli. At about 4 o’clock in the morning, they got up while it was still dark, started off from Guangzhou Jiangmen, hoping to get back home in Guangxi Pingnan before evening to have dinner with their 1-year-old son, whom they hadn’t seen in 6 months.

But right at the doorsteps of to their home, this hope shattered. Their bodies lay entwined in blood, with broken motorcycle parts scattered all around them. A black single-shoulder bag containing their everyday savings was tossed aside. Also on the roadside was a broken motorcycle, luggage tied to the back seat.

Comments from QQ:

腾讯网友 ﹎深a!祢:

If it weren’t for train tickets being too hard to come by, airline tickets being too expensive, and the high-speed rail not yet open, they wouldn’t have to go home like this.

腾讯北京市网友 雪虎:

So tragic, a tragedy of the nation. The Spring Festival Rush is always a big problem. Renting foreign planes to add flights to the major routes during the Spring Festival Rush would be a cost-efficient solution.

腾讯网友 游侠:

[Drivers of] Dump trucks and large cargo trucks are all maniacs.

腾讯十堰市网友 灵犀:

Truly too tragic, the poor child. Just what kind of police man is that, taking photos with one hand in his pocket, so indifferent to someone’s else’s loss. I hate this world, hate this niu policeman.

腾讯网友 你知道吗？:

Travel safe, I wish the people nationwide a happy and peaceful New Year!

腾讯网友 Cai Chuxing:

What a shame, only 25 years old, both the child and the old will be sad. When riding a motorcycle, one needs to be careful.

腾讯西安市网友 書鄉門弟:

Looks like a traffic accident in the middle of the road. Safety first, safety first, guys. Ignorant people who don’t know traffic rules have learned a lesson at the cost of their lives. Motorcycles are not to be ridden in car lanes. Amen!

腾讯网友 暖霁 ^_^….:

Two lives. Look at that traffic officer’s posture. Please, respect the dead.

腾讯网友 真功夫:

Don’t know what to say after seeing this. It’s really so heart-breaking!!!

Comments from NetEase:

不关闭评论了 [网易广东省深圳市网友]:

See the traffic policeman taking photos with his hand in his pants pocket in picture 1? Feels like he’s as calm as if he’s just looking at a dead dog.

网易江苏省手机网友 180.99.*.*: (responding to above)

Traffic policemen have seen a lot.

kinderok [网易北京市网友]: (responding to above)

Have they seen as much as doctors? Even a doctor feels sorry [looks pained] when they face patients they weren’t able to save.

网易辽宁省辽阳市网友 ip：113.237.*.*: (responding to 不关闭评论了)

The first commenter, don’t digress too far [drag something distantly related into this].

gaopwsy [网易浙江省丽水市网友]:

So sad, to work hard for a year just to go home.

愤怒的小鸟不愤怒 [网易广东省广州市网友]:

I can only hope that our friends on the road can get home early and smoothly.

chjak9791 [网易陕西省西安市网友]:

Looking at this is heartbreaking… We can only pray that the deceased rest in peace!!!

星辰诗航 [网易安徽省马鞍山市网友]:

To be safe is a blessing, may the deceased rest in peace!

LyonGT [网易江苏省南通市手机网友]:

I wonder what thoughts the Ministry of Railways people have after seeing this.

网易陕西省手机网友 211.137.*.*: (responding to above)

No thoughts.

吃个饭先 [网易广东省广州市网友]: (responding to above)

Last year, the motherfucking Ministry of Railways had standing-room-only tickets 77 yuan more expensive than hard-seat tickets, even saying it’s because the standing room is in the soft-seat train carriages. In this kind of society, the people are powerless, and lives are cheaper than those of dogs!!!

dalecrab [网易上海市网友]:

These past few days, I’ve been watching CCTV News every day: Watching people riding motorcycles back to their hometowns, watching about the left-behind children, “what is the point”? Think about this dead couple, think about the lonely children and old people back in the hometown. Are they on their way home or are they on their way to death? Expensive road tolls and gas money bring up the expenses of construction, train/bus tickets, and commodity prices. People nationwide could’ve benefit, but the blood vessels of the nation have become a money-making machine for the extreme minority of people. May those on their way home have a safe journey.