On the evening of April 16, at 6:41 p.m., a serious traffic accident occurred near the intersection of Jinjiling Community in Tianya District, Sanya City. The police stated that the accident resulted in at least 6 injuries, but an eyewitness said that an 11-year-old girl died.
According to the local police report on the 16th, a 60-year-old woman named Xu, a resident of Sanya, Hainan, was driving a non-operational vehicle at 6:41 p.m. on April 16. When she was near the intersection of Jinjiling Community in Tianya District of Sanya City, improper operation led to the vehicle losing control and hitting an electric car and pedestrians, resulting in 6 injuries. The police ruled out the suspicion of Xu driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but did not provide specific details about the injuries, only mentioning that all the injured had been taken to the hospital.
A circulated video showed an electric car lying on the ground at the scene, with a white van having collided with the car and a watermelon truck in front of it. The ground was a mess, with smashed watermelons scattered around and many onlookers nearby.
According to a netizen’s description on the video platform, she was passing by with her child to buy bread at the time and saw debris scattered all over the road. She noticed a child crying, a classmate of her child, whose mother said they weren’t hit, just the car, which frightened the child.
Then, the netizen looked further ahead and saw a girl lying on the ground, covered in blood. She rushed over to check on the situation and found the child semi-conscious at that moment. She quickly comforted the child, telling her not to be afraid and that emergency services were on the way. The netizen mentioned, “The injured girl hadn’t completely lost consciousness at that time, but was already out of control, with cold limbs, pale face, and blue lips. I immediately took her in my arms, asking someone to call her parents.”
As the child’s phone watch was locked and couldn’t be opened, the netizen asked someone to check the child’s backpack, finding out that the child was a 5th-grade student. She then contacted her own child’s class teacher through her phone and reached out to the 5th-grade teacher. Eventually, the girl’s parents received the call and rushed to the scene.
“When the parents saw the child, they burst into tears immediately, feeling extremely distressed at that moment,” the netizen recalled. Later that night, after 9 p.m., she heard that the child didn’t make it, and she said, “It has been several hours now, but the mood is still very heavy.”
According to information provided by other netizens, the girl was 11 years old, and she was the most severely injured among the victims, having even lost her shoes.
Another netizen expressed, “It’s fortunate that there was a watermelon truck; otherwise, with so many people on the crosswalk, the casualties could have been greater.”