Part of the trailer was damaged in the accident, and the lower half of the driver in his 60s escaped from the bridge railing 11 meters high.
At the moment of desperation, paramedics Park Joon-hyun (34) and members of the Pungsan 119 Safety Center arrived at the scene.
Fireman Park said, "I thought I should catch it somehow, so when I reached down (down the rampage), I could barely hold it, so I was holding it first."
Afterwards, a rescue team arrived, but Park held the driver's hand for 45 minutes without taking turns in a possible crash. Instead, he wrapped the driver's arm around the rope in the pump car and connected with two other rescuers.
The driver's hand was covered in blood in the aftermath of the accident. Over time, some of the body fell under the 11-meter bridge, and the driver's body gradually went down toward the ground. Whenever a fearful driver struggled, Park tried his best to calm him down.
Soon after, air mats were laid on the national road under the bridge and excavation procedures arrived. Eventually, the driver was rescued in an excavation basket (board space) at around 10:30 a.m., about an hour after the accident and taken to a hospital.
"Usually, the car was crushed on the road, so I just needed to open the door, but the space for the rescue work itself was too narrow," Fire Officer Park said. "It snowed a lot, and my hands were frozen."
Firefighter Park, who was appointed on November 20, 2016, is an paramedic with eight years of experience. In addition to Park, more than 20 firefighters from Andong Fire Station and Yecheon Fire Station Provincial 119 Safety Center joined the rescue site.
Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.
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