[Frannypaync]

Mon Jul 02 2012 16:44 ITN

A dumper truck driver has had a lucky escape after his vehicle fell into a 20-metre-deep ditch,
while he was reinforcing a dam in China's Chongqing Municipality.

The driver was found partially submerged in a river at the bottom of the ravine, with his right
leg pinned by the vehicle. Rescuers quickly rushed to the scene and tried to free the driver
using a hydraulic spreader and other equipment.

After almost 45 minutes, some 47 rescuers managed to free the man and stretcher him back
to the road, where he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

The dam the loader was reinforcing is meant to counter recent heavy rain in the Sichuan Basin
and upstream sections of the Yangtze River, which has been the scene of significant localised
flooding in recent days.