Phone-obsessed driver crashes his new car into a river while playing on his handset
- Motorist glued to his phone plunged into the waterway while driving to work
- The man in Guizhou, China, escaped from the car by kicking open a front door
- He said he had just got a number plate for his car 10 minutes before the crash
- The vehicle, which costed £2,239, was written off in the accident last month
A Chinese driver has crashed his new car into a river on his way to work while he was playing on his phone behind the wheel.
The motorist veered off the course when he suddenly noticed pedestrians on the road, according to police.
The man escaped from the car by kicking open a door after it plunged into the waterway. He sustained a dislocated shoulder.
The man crashed his car into a river in Meitan County, China, on the morning of February 21
He said he had just got a number plate and driven for 10 minutes when the crash happened
The accident took place on the morning of February 21 in Meitan County, south-western China’s Guizhou Province, said local police.
The driver, named by local media as Mr Zhang, had just got a number plate for his vehicle 10 minutes before the crash.
He told the police that he had bought the car second-hand for around 20,000 yuan (£2,239) before the start of the year.
He said: ‘I left for work at half past eight. I was looking for my phone and looking at it [while I was driving] and then saw two people in front of my car.
‘I turned the steering wheel sharply to avoid hitting them. And then I fell off (the bridge) like this.’
Mr Zhang said he had been driving with a temporary number plate before the fateful day
The man said he free himself from the crashed car after kicking open the right front door
Mr Zhang said he had been driving with a temporary number plate before the day of the accident.
‘I had only put on my new plate and driven for some 10 minutes [when I crashed],’ he claimed.
The man said he free himself from the car after kicking open the right front door.
‘I couldn’t open the left front door, then I used my feet to violently kick the right door,’ he added.
He was dragged to the shore by passersby using a rope. The locals then called the police.
Surveillance footage released by the local traffic police shows a white car approaching a single-lane bridge.
Three people were walking towards the car on the narrow structure.
Seconds later, the white vehicle swerved sharply to the left and nose-dived into a river underneath.
To attach a harness to the car to help the crane haul it up, the police sent two officers to the middle of the river by attaching them to a rope, which was in turn attached to a crane’s arm
According to Zunyi Traffic Police, who handled the accident, Mr Zhang had been rescued when they arrived at the scene.
To pull up the car, which was floating in the middle of the river, officers had to call a crane to the scene.
To attach a harness to the car to help the crane haul it up, the police sent two officers to the middle of the river by attaching them to a rope, which was in turn attached to the crane’s arm.
Mr Zhang’s car was written off in the accident, reported Guiyang News.
Police were carrying out further investigation, the local news outlet said.