On October 3, Linxiang City, Yueyang, Hunan Province. The news that a 7-seat cross-country wedding car collided with a sanitation car, causing 6 deaths in the wedding car, attracted attention and shocked Linxiang, a quiet town.
When the incident happened, why did the wedding car suddenly change lanes? What happened to the driver? What kind of story was staged on the eve of the wedding? For a time, this traffic accident triggered various speculations on the Internet, and all kinds of gossip caused secondary harm to the families of the victims invisibly.
▲ The layout of the wedding scene saved in the family’s mobile phone
In order to restore the truth as much as possible and stop rumors, the Red Star journalist came to Linxiang City after the incident to communicate with the families of the victims such as the groom, the driver of the wedding car and the makeup artist in the car, trying to restore what happened in the 12 hours before the accident.
A tragic car accident before the wedding
It took more than two years to get the certificate in September, and the bride was pregnant when she was killed.
According to the report of Linxiang Public Security WeChat WeChat official account on October 4th, at 10 o’clock in the morning on the 3rd, a traffic accident occurred in which a 7-seat off-road vehicle (i.e. a wedding car) suddenly changed lanes and entered the opposite lane and collided with a moving sanitation car at the section of Maoxing Group in Yutan Village, S206 Zhongfang Town, Linxiang City. The accident caused two people in the off-road vehicle to die on the spot and four people were injured (died after being rescued by the hospital).
▲ Police notification
On October 10th, the eighth day after the accident, the Red Star journalist came to Shizui Village, Linxiang City, and met the family of Mr. Liu, the deceased groom. The 3-story house has disappeared from the lively arrangement when it was newly married. There are only a few hospitality tables and chairs left in the house, and the messy stacked furniture is placed in the corner, revealing the desolation and sadness after the happy event turned into the funeral.
"It’s only been a few days, the mother’s spirit of the child has been paralyzed, and the old man at home has lost several pounds. No one can accept such a big change." Mr. Liu’s aunt, Ms. Liu, told Red Star News that the family had just buried the groom, Mr. Liu, a few days ago. The life of a 24-year-old young man came to an abrupt end, and his parents and elders spent these days in tears.
On the second floor of this three-story house, the whole family arranged the wedding room for Mr. Liu and his new wife, and now it has been idle, and Mr. Liu’s family even dare not go upstairs to have a look. Ms. Liu told Red Star News that as the family members of the man, they are very satisfied with this new wife. "After introduction, the two people know that the other person is a few years younger than the groom. They have been in love for more than two years and only got a marriage certificate around September this year."
"The relationship between them has always been very good, and both parents can talk about it. It’s not what the Internet said at all. Our two families have no unhappiness." At the same time, Ms. Liu showed the reporter a video of Mr. Liu’s marriage proposal before his death. In the video, when Mr. Liu said "marry me" with flowers in his hand, his girlfriend jumped up excitedly.
▲ Video screenshot of the groom’s marriage proposal displayed by his family.
The two families made a lot of preparations for this wedding. "In a hotel in the city, the venue for the wedding was set, and the scene was carefully arranged. The banquet for the guests at home was also ready." Ms. Liu recalled that at about 3 or 4 am on the 3 rd, the driver had already picked up the groom and set off for her family. Everything was prepared step by step, until around 10 am, they received a call from the traffic police team and the bad news came.
For this accident, Ms. Liu is reluctant to recall more details. According to several villagers in the same village, according to the local marriage custom, the groom will sit in the co-pilot seat with the bride in his arms when receiving the bride. At that time, Ms. Liu said that the bride was pregnant in her belly.
Why did the wedding car driver suddenly change lanes?
"I didn’t play mahjong all night before picking up my relatives, and it can’t be drunk driving."
There is still no definite answer to the specific cause of this accident. Red Star journalists repeatedly called the traffic police brigade in Linxiang City, but no one answered the phone. Many family members of the victims in the car also said that they have not received the official cause of the accident.
Then, why did the moving wedding car suddenly change lanes? As netizens said, do drivers have drunk driving and fatigue driving? In this regard, Ms. Liu denied it.
According to Ms. Liu, the driver of the car is actually a relative of the groom. According to local customs, the relatives of the man’s family will go to the man’s home for a party to help on the night of October 2, and leave for the bride’s home in the early hours of the 3 rd. Many villagers in the same village also said that the groom’s family was really lively on the night of the 2 nd, and there was a sound of playing mahjong in the house.
"There is indeed a party in the evening, but it is not what netizens said that they played mahjong all night." Ms. Liu said that at 11 o’clock that night, the whole family basically arranged a rest. "Everyone knows that they will have a wedding tomorrow, so how can they play all night?"
The younger brother of the driver of the wedding car also confirmed to the reporter that at about 11 o’clock on the night of the 2 nd, Mr. Yang, as a driver, had ended his party at the man’s house. As the two families lived close together, Mr. Yang rested at the man’s house that night, returned to his home at around 4 am on the 3rd, drove his 7-seat Ford SUV to the groom’s house, and set off together to meet his relatives.
It is understood that the bride’s family lives in Pingjiang County, Yueyang City, about 130 kilometers away from Linxiang City, and the unilateral driving time is more than 90 minutes. At the time of the incident, it can be seen from a video taken by a rear vehicle driving recorder that the moving wedding car did not encounter another car or overtake before changing lanes, but suddenly changed lanes and drove into the opposite lane, colliding head-on with the sanitation car.
▲ The rear car driving recorder shows that the wedding car suddenly changed lanes at the time of the incident.
Such an unexpected situation triggered speculation by some netizens. Some netizens questioned whether the driver of the wedding car drank alcohol before picking up the relatives. In response, the younger brother of the driver, Mr. Yang, responded: "My brother has always been a teetotaler and never drunk." Villagers near Mr. Yang’s residence also told reporters that Mr. Yang had no drinking habits before his death.
The driver had a heart attack and caused a car accident?
He was a truck driver before his death,
Family members said that they had found arrhythmia, but it was nothing serious.
On the evening of the 10th, the Red Star journalist came to the home of Mr. Yang, the driver who died, and met his wife, Ms. Wu (changed surname) and a pair of children. When talking about her husband, Ms. Wu choked up: "I dare not go home now. When I get home, it is all a happy scene for the whole family in the past."
According to Ms. Wu, she hasn’t gone out to work since she got married, and Mr. Yang, who is over 50 years old, has been a truck driver for more than 30 years, and his income is the source of income for the whole family. "When he was alive, he earned about 200,000 yuan a year. We actually lived very well."
But now, in addition to leaving grief, her husband’s sudden death has more than 500,000 yuan in loans owed in previous years. Ms. Wu told Red Star News that two years ago, he borrowed money to buy his own trucks and trailers, and he took orders to run long distances to pull goods. Today, Mr. Yang’s younger brother pointed to a trailer and truck on the side of the road and said, "Now the car can only be idle here. More than 500,000 arrears have not been paid, so it can only be sold at a low price to pay off debts."
▲ trucks and trailers purchased by wedding car drivers with loans.
According to Ms. Wu, on October 6, Mr. Yang was buried in the ground. However, the storm caused by this accident has not stopped. She told reporters about her helplessness: "We don’t know what happened at that time, but now people on the Internet are coming to scold us, and there are always people around who say that it’s all the driver’s fault."
Ms. Wu told reporters that this traffic accident caused quite a storm in the local area. When she left home, she could hear all kinds of discussions, and the children had become a little tired of learning because they saw the blame on their father online. But for the reason why the wedding car suddenly changed lanes, she also had no answer.
Mr. Yang and many villagers in the same village also confirmed to reporters that as a truck driver, Mr. Yang did not have the habit of drinking alcohol and had never heard of a serious traffic accident.
A villager told Red Star News that Mr. Yang is loyal and honest on weekdays, and he is not an impatient person. He just found out some heart problems last year, so some people in the same village wondered if he had an accident while driving. But for this statement, Mr. Yang’s younger brother said, "He only found arrhythmia last year, and there is no big problem."
The makeup artist and the driver were friends.
Family members: Half an hour before the incident, I also sent a circle of friends to pick up my relatives.
On the seven cross-country wedding cars that were involved in the accident, besides the driver, the bride and groom, two bridesmaids, there was also a makeup artist accompanying them. At the time of the incident, the makeup artist Ms. Chen (Hua surname) did not die on the spot, but was sent to Linxiang Chinese Medicine Hospital. According to Ms. Zhang, Ms. Chen’s sister-in-law, "The hospital was rescued for a long time, and the door of the rescue room was opened at almost 12 o’clock at night, saying that people were still gone."
"Things came so suddenly that I couldn’t recognize her when I went to the hospital." Ms. Zhang told Red Star News that Ms. Chen, a makeup artist, is in her early 50 s and has opened a beauty studio herself. Because Ms. Chen was friends with Mr. Yang, the driver of the wedding car, she was introduced by Mr. Yang and became the makeup artist of the bride.
Ms. Zhang recalled to Red Star News that at about 9: 40 am on the 3rd, Ms. Chen updated her circle of friends and posted photos of the bride and groom sitting in the car. "She was sitting in the back of the car, next to two bridesmaids, and everyone was very happy to see the groom sitting in the co-pilot with the bride in his arms."
The bad news came suddenly. On the afternoon of the 3rd, Ms. Zhang received a notice from her family, and learned that Ms. Chen was sent to the hospital for rescue after an accident in a car accident. At 3 pm, she came to Linxiang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, when Ms. Chen had been treated in the rescue room.
It was late at night. According to Ms. Zhang’s memory, it was not until 12 o’clock that night that the door of the rescue room was opened and the doctor announced the death of Ms. Chen. At the scene, Ms. Chen she saw was unrecognizable because of a serious car accident. A few days ago, the family had buried Ms. Chen.
There is no dispute over compensation among the three families.
"I will reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility for the rumors."
At present, in addition to the misfortune caused by accidents, rumors on the Internet have caused the families of many victims in the car to suffer secondary injuries to varying degrees.
In an interview with Red Star News, Ms. Liu, the aunt of the dead groom, said that after the incident, they often saw malicious comments, randomly edited videos and unwarranted suspicion topics on the Internet. "Some people say that we are in a hurry because of the issue of compensation. There is no such thing at all." Ms. Liu said that at present, the follow-up cooking work and claims settlement are being carried out in an orderly manner. No matter whether it is the bilateral family members of the bride and groom or the family members of the driver, there has been no contradiction due to the competition for money.
"Both before and after the incident, we like both children equally." According to Ms. Liu, just on the morning of the 10th, the bride’s parents came home, and the two sides had a peaceful communication, not any dispute as reported by the Internet. Regarding the rumors in the network, Ms. Liu said that she would reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility for the rumors.
As for the burial of the newlyweds, Ms. Liu responded that the bride has brought her daughter back to her hometown for burial, but the reason is not that there is a contradiction between the two sides, but that the bride’s home is far away and her parents "hope to be closer to her daughter". At the same time, the driver’s family and the makeup artist’s family also confirmed to reporters that there was no dispute between many families after the incident.
As for the specific responsibility identification and compensation details, many family members also said that the cause of the accident is still under investigation, the specific responsibility identification is still unclear, and the specific matters of compensation are inconvenient to disclose.
As for the current situation of driving the sanitation truck driver, the reporter learned from a person in charge of the Linxiang Environmental Sanitation Center that the sanitation truck driver is a temporary worker in the center, and this accident did not cause serious physical damage to the driver. However, due to the sudden incident and the great influence of public opinion in the later period, the mood of the driver of the sanitation vehicle was greatly affected at that time. However, the driver’s life has gradually returned to normal. The person in charge of the center said in an interview: "At present, the accident identification is still in progress."
