A group of Chinese tourists helped prevent a serious accident in South Korea after the driver of a 6015 airport bus traveling from central Seoul to Incheon International Airport reportedly lost consciousness while the vehicle was on an expressway on 11 July.
Two passengers interviewed by the outlet said there were roughly a dozen to around 20 people on board, most of them Chinese tourists. As accounts of the incident spread across Chinese and South Korean social media, South Korean media contacted the bus operator, which said it was still verifying the details of what happened and the driver's condition.
A poster identified as "Xiao Wang" said the incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. local time, when the bus was nearing Incheon Airport Terminal 1. He said passengers first heard the vehicle scrape the road edge, producing a sound similar to driving over rumble strips, before a young woman in the front shouted that the driver had fainted.
Another passenger, Ms. Sun, who was seated in the second row behind the driver, said the bus began to veer out of control. She said she rushed to the driver's seat, gripped the steering wheel, and guided the bus into the emergency lane, while another female passenger helped apply the brakes. They then engaged the handbrake to ensure the vehicle would not roll. Ms. Sun said stabilizing the bus was the most urgent task, warning that at highway speed the bus could have overturned or been hit from behind.
After the bus stopped, passengers began emergency aid. Ms. Sun said several people worked together to move the driver into the aisle and took turns performing CPR, noting that at the time they could not detect the driver's breathing or pulse.
Emergency calls were made in parallel. Xiao Wang said the first attempt was difficult due to language barriers, and Ms. Sun—described as the only passenger who spoke Korean—called again to report that the driver was suspected of suffering cardiac arrest and to request an ambulance.
The report said the bus door initially could not open normally because the vehicle had stopped close to roadside greenery. Passengers activated the emergency door release and opened the door enough for people to exit. South Korean police, highway patrol officers and emergency personnel later arrived, and passengers were arranged to transfer to another vehicle to continue to the airport.
Ms. Sun emphasized that the outcome was the result of coordinated action by multiple passengers—from those who first noticed the problem to those who controlled the bus, performed CPR, called for help and flagged down assistance.
South Korean media reports cited in the article said the incident drew wide attention on local social platforms, with many users praising the passengers' calm response and cross-language cooperation and expressing hope that the driver would recover.
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