According to a report from the Chengdu Municipal Public Security Bureau's Traffic Management Bureau on the afternoon of October 13th, a traffic accident occurred at approximately 3:18 AM on the southern section of Tianfu Avenue in Chengdu. A preliminary investigation revealed that the driver, a 31-year-old male, was driving a small car along Tianfu Avenue from north to south. After passing the Tianfu Fifth Street intersection and entering the southern section of Tianfu Avenue, the vehicle collided with a small car driven by a man named Li traveling in the same direction. The car then crossed the central green belt and caught fire. The accident resulted in the death of the driver, Deng, and varying degrees of damage to both vehicles involved. Testing revealed Deng was suspected of driving under the influence.
After the incident, several car owners passing by the scene got out of their cars and tried to break windows to rescue the driver, but failed. Mr. Yuan, a car owner who participated in the rescue, told The Paper that the door of the vehicle in the accident did not appear to be deformed at the time, but it just could not be opened.
Witness footage shows the Xiaomi SU7 on fire. The car was driving erratically before the incident, with netizens hearing the driver yelling while waiting at a traffic light. The vehicle then sped away, with multiple dashcam videos showing it traveling at speeds exceeding 100 km/h.
Mr. Yuan was driving into the city from Tianfu Avenue when he saw the car on fire. He quickly pulled over, called 110 and 120, and ran to help.
Mr. Yuan told The Paper that as he passed by, the right rear section of the vehicle had already exploded and caught fire. As people rushed to help, they couldn't see clearly whether the driver inside was conscious or unconscious. They knocked on the window and called out to him from the sidelines, but there was no movement. However, the surrounding area was also very noisy.
Mr. Yuan said the battery in the rear of the car seemed to have slightly detonated, making a continuous popping sound like firecrackers. Flames shot out through the two rear windows, making a "booming" sound. Because the front door wouldn't open, he turned around and asked the person behind him if they had any iron tools to pry it open, but they were unsuccessful.
Mr. Yuan said the driver's door didn't appear to be noticeably deformed, so he assumed it would open, but it wouldn't. "No matter how hard I pulled, the door handle wouldn't come out," he said. He was on the phone with the police when someone brought a wrench. Someone nearby used the wrench to break the window. With the glass halfway open, another person reached in to pull the door open from the inside when a sudden "bang" sounded from the front compartment. Although there were no sparks, they instinctively took a few steps back.
Fearing a fire ignition, they immediately sprayed the front driver's seat with a fire extinguisher. Just as they were about to run over to see if they could open the door, the entire undercarriage exploded. Because the entire vehicle was on fire, they were powerless to do anything.
Mr. Yuan said that when he was passing by, he noticed that the accident vehicle was coming from the opposite lane, but he did not see the accident process. Mr. Yuan was driving slowly at the time and was using his phone to check the navigation when he saw the car in front of him emitting smoke, so he opened his phone to record the video.
The 18-second video provided by Mr. Yuan shows that the car was already burning when he filmed it. As he approached, it suddenly burst into flames again, forcing him to pull over and get out to help. "When I parked, I was only 10 to 20 meters away when it exploded again. I moved my car over 10 meters away, and the fragments of the explosion hit my car," Mr. Yuan said.
