A train driver in southwest China who lost a leg saving an elderly woman who’d wandered onto the track said he has “no regrets”, according to South Morning China Post.
A train driver in southwest China who lost a leg saving an elderly woman who’d wandered onto the track said he has “no regrets”, according to South Morning China Post.
Xu Qiankai recovers in hospital after having the lower part of his right leg amputated. Photo: Handout
Xu Qiankai, 29, was driving a train on the outskirts of Chongqing on Thursday afternoon when he spotted an elderly woman crossing the tracks.
Although the area was clearly marked with “No Trespassing” signs, Xu said he looked up and saw a woman on the track in front of him.
Photo: Chongqing Evening News
Xu pulled the emergency brake and sounded the horn, but the 68-year-old woman froze on the tracks.
The hero and the elderly woman on the train tracks. Photo: Chongqing Evening News
As the locomotive was being taken for a service it wasn’t coupled to any carriages or wagons and was moving quite slowly, so Xu was able to get in front of it.
The hero jumped off the train and ran towards the woman. He was able to push the woman to safety but he couldn’t get out of the way of the locomotive in time.
Sadly he wasn’t quite fast enough. Although he managed to reach the woman and push her to safety, before he could save himself, the wheels of the oncoming train ran over his right leg.
Photo: Chongqing Evening News
Xu was rushed to hospital, but due to the severity of the injury, doctors were unable to save his leg and were forced to amputate it from just above the knee.
“I lost a leg, but [saved] a life,” the former military man was quoted as saying through his tears. “If life repeated itself, I would do it again.”
The woman, who wasn’t named in the report, visited Xu in hospital. At his bedside, she dropped to her knees and thanked him repeatedly for saving her life.
Photo: Chongqing Evening News
