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Original poster

Little girl killed in China

79 replies

JaneBirkin · 17/10/2011 12:52

I'm sitting crying having watched a video of a little girl who was hit by two vans in Beijing...apparently 18 people just walked or drove past without stopping to help.

She was 2 Sad

I can't bear it, I'm posting to say unless you are feeling very strong, don't watch the video. It was on the ITV news a while back and is on you tube ofr those who want to see it. But I wish I hadn't.

RIP little soul

OP posts:
PosiesOfPoison · 17/10/2011 19:50

China has the largest number of road deaths per capita. They have posters showing fatal accidents and pools of blood to encourage good driving, they also have a seriously fucked up system of traffic lights and rights of way. So a red light at a cross roads is for straight on and right, but not if you want to go left, so if you're wanting to cross you have no idea when it's safe. Zebra crossings mean nothing.

horMOANSnomore · 17/10/2011 19:54

Absolutely nothing wrong with posting here and I understand exactly why you did it Jane.

It's awful when you find out something like this has happened and can't understand why - it's human nature to want to talk about it.

I'm not going to watch the video but absolutely sympathise and hope the little girl will be alright.

BionicEar · 17/10/2011 22:51

For me watching that video (and wishing I hasn't seen it) what gets me most is seeing a woman walk by with her own child. Just find it hard to get my head round that, walking by with your own child whilst another child desperately needs help.

Really hope that little girl pulls through and makes a miraculous recovery.

Original poster
JaneBirkin · 18/10/2011 07:45

Thankyou all for your kind words.

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 18/10/2011 08:24

Awful. I read this thread yesterday and thought surely not! So watched it

It's haunted me since, but if the little one is still alive then it's hopeful. Driving dd to work after seeing it , I still can't rationalise it. The van driver, the people going past, the ones who stopped to look, then carried on?? It's like china is on a different planet to us

thunderboltsandlightning · 18/10/2011 08:30

Poor little girl. I can also understand why you posted it Jane. Incredibly upsetting. The natural urge is to go and help someone who has been hurt, particularly a child, so it must be awful to see people not reacting in that way.

jellybeans · 18/10/2011 16:12

I also watched the video. I was horrified and upset by it. I checked the news threads to see if anyone else posted. I am glad someone else posted. We should talk about it. I have a 2 year old and the thought of people just walking past made me feel sick. I did hear somewhere that sometimes in some countries people taking a person to hospital might be liable forthe costs but i am not sure whether that applies in the country that the accident happened. Surely the first van that hit the little child noticed? Do they have laws re hit and run? Absolutely horrifying. I truly hope the girl pulls through.

SamMiguel · 18/10/2011 16:24

It sounds as though she is going to be in a persistence vegetative state.

belgo · 18/10/2011 16:35

Very sad story. I understand why you posted this and I think it is important to discuss why 18 people would pass a dying child without doing anything to help.

I wonder if the 'passer by' effect applies here? Everyone thinks that because no-one else has done anything to help, then they are not morally obliged to help either?

Fear of being blamed for the accident, or fear of being made to pay hospital fees?

The passers-by thought it could be a scam and they didn't want to be caught out by it?

Or possibly the worst reason, that abandoned children are seen as worthless and no-one was interested in helping?

Original poster
JaneBirkin · 18/10/2011 17:02

I have read on another site (British/Chinese interest I think) that the man who hit her first spoke to the police later, and said if she had been killed, he would have to pay a certain sum of money.

However if she had been injured he might have to pay thousands more.

This is why he drove off. I don't know if it's why he drove over her again.

I don't think I have the words

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 18/10/2011 18:00

No words either.

Booooooyhoo · 18/10/2011 18:07

who the hell makes those sort of rules? that is a sick attitude.

TheOriginalNutcracker · 18/10/2011 18:09

I saw it yesterday and was absolutly appalled and upset at the people who walked past her. I just cannot comprehend how someone can walk past her I really can't.

wahwahwah · 18/10/2011 18:14

I read in the paper today that she was hit by a second vehicle too. It didn't say how she ended up in the road in the first place.

The article said that there is a culture of people sueing in China and a 'good samaritan' who took someone to the hospital ended up being sued by the person he helped so people are cautious of helping anyone.

Still - how could you leave a child in the road? The reports say that she couldn't have been mistaken for a doll or anything else.

TheOriginalNutcracker · 18/10/2011 18:16

She just kind of toddled into the road, but not right into the middle.

A second van did hit her too, as she lay there and several people had already walked past.

GoodAndBluts · 18/10/2011 18:22

Horrific, just horrific. Looking at the picture, it looks more like an alleyway than an actual road, it was a market place and her parents ran a stall where she wandered off from.

Who the actual fuck runs over a toddler and leaves them there for dead :( And as for the 18 people who passed her little body lying there.......

Original poster
JaneBirkin · 18/10/2011 18:48

They can't have thought she was dead either...which would have possibly mitigated it slightly...if there was nothing they could have done I mean. she was still moving.

I feel ill
I HOPE that the extent of the initial injury to her poor little head was such that she felt only momentary pain. The second running over was not to her upper body. There was no sound on the video.

OP posts:
Original poster
JaneBirkin · 18/10/2011 18:51

I'm so sorry, this is becoming very, very upsetting. Perhaps we ought to ask for the thread to be removed.

I don't want people to read this stuff.

OTOH if we don't, we won't know this kind of thing happens

it's difficult to know how to respond

I'm really sorry, anyway. Wish I hadn't brought it up now.

OP posts:
Original poster
JaneBirkin · 18/10/2011 18:54

I've asked for a warning to be put in the title

OP posts:
hiddenhome · 18/10/2011 19:04

I once saw a photograph once of a dead newborn baby that had been dumped by the side of the road in China Sad

Booooooyhoo · 18/10/2011 19:10

for some reason i was shown those type of photos in school hidden i cant remember why or what the topic was but i remember it being in one of the classrooms on the class tv. it stayed with me.

cera1980 · 18/10/2011 19:23

I saw this earlier, it was absolutely heartbreaking for the little girl with all of those people walking past her, it's obvious she was alive, she was still moving.

I have to say though, I was almost as upset at the rough way in which she was handled by the two women (they pulled her up by her arms) as I was about the seeing her run over.

Poor little girl :(

belgo · 18/10/2011 19:37

cera I have to admit I didn't get as far as that on the video. I stopped watching it fairly quickly, too difficult to watch.

winnybella · 18/10/2011 19:52

Scum. Fucking scum. It's terrifying to think that people can be so devoid of humanity.

Perfectly reasonable to post about it, Jane, it's natural to share and try to make some sense out of it.

jellybeans · 18/10/2011 20:57

I keep thinking about that poor little girl and wondering how she is :( in some ways wish I had never watched it but in others i think it is better people speak out than brush things under the carpet. It needs to be addressed. people can be so selfish these days. Killing people for an iphone for example, is there a culture of materialism behind this? is life cheap? Or is it a general cultural thing. Either way i am still feeling sick over it. i know some people have said people die every day etc etc, true, BUT that doesn't stop us being sad for this little girl.

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