Citizen drivers, including one from Shenzhen, were the first to respond to people trapped in their cars before police and search and rescue teams arrived at the scene of the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway collapse that claimed 48 lives Wednesday.

On the way to his hometown in Longyan, Fujian Province, at around 2:30 a.m, Liu Yongjin, a driver from Shenzhen, felt something strange when he was passing the Chayang section of the expressway. He soon noticed that some cars were driving in the wrong direction.

“I drove forward and later learned that the expressway had collapsed,” said Liu.

Liu parked his car on the side of the road and proceeded to walk up the road in the dim light. He soon saw that dozens of cars had fallen off the expressway and that some had caught fire after tumbling down the slope. Some of the vehicles were buried under soil after the collapse.

“I didn’t have time to think. The urgent thing was to save the people trapped in the cars. I climbed down the slope with the light of the phone. I saw some people climb out of their cars. I carried a child and supported an adult by my side while leading them to the safe place,” Liu said during an interview.

Before professional rescuers arrived, Li helped six people, including three children, to a safe place. The youngest child was only 3 years old.

Liu rested after a sufficient number of rescuers had arrived at the scene and left the site at around 4 a.m.

Data from the publicity department of the Dabu County CPC Committee show that 48 people were killed and 30 sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Twenty-three vehicles tumbled down the steep slope after one side of the four-lane highway collapsed.

The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.