In a world that seems to more closely resemble a dingy, Children of Men-esque dystopia with each passing day, it’s important to cling to the stories that remind you that humanity isn’t a soul-crushing trash-fire.
With that in mind, here’s a video of a firefighter comforting a group of kindergartners involved in a fender-bender on Friday.
The crash took place at 1pm on Friday when two school buses carrying 25 children between them collided outside the Kwun Tong Government Primary School on Sau Ming Road, Kwun Tong.
According to Apple Daily, no one was seriously injured, but all 25 children — aged 3 to 5 years old — a bus driver, and a nanny on board one of the buses were sent to the United Christian Hospital for treatment for minor injuries.
But while the children waited for the ambulance, firemen were at the scene to calm the kids down, with one in particular winning praise from netizens for how he handled the group of distraught kids, some of whom appeared to be in shock after the crash.
In the video, the fireman — whose face isn’t visible throughout the video — can be seen arranging some of the kids in a line while offering cheerful encouragement.
“How old are you?” the fireman can be heard asking one child. “Four years old? This little girl here is 3 years old, can you help me look after her please?”
“You kids are so brave,” he goes on to say. “Everyone’s so smart!”
In a video report posted by Apple Daily on Friday, the same fireman can be seen playing games with the children, who at that point have calmed down and can been seen smiling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqfCnfjPLig&frags=pl%2Cwn
Reactions from social media, meanwhile, have been more or less universally positive, with users bombarding the video with thumbs ups and heart emojis, and calling the firefighter, quite understandably, a “warm-hearted man.”
Summing up what pretty much everyone is thinking, one user remarked: “Every time I feel depressed about what’s going on around me, it’s news like this that reminds me how good Hong Kong can be.”
The video first appeared on a Facebook group called “Play Hard”, with some 4,000 people having “liked” or reacted to the video so far.
According to Apple Daily, the crash took place as a yellow school bus carrying nine boys and one girl was waiting at a traffic light on Sau Mau Ping Road.
As the driver of that bus — a 60-year-old surnamed Chan — prepared to turn right, a white school bus carrying seven boys and eight girls rear-ended him. The driver of the white bus, a 59-year-old surnamed Au, admitted to police officers that he was feeling a bit drowsy at the time.
Both drivers had no alcohol in their system, and no one was arrested.
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