This is a golden route traversing Shaanxi from north to south, especially after northern Shaanxi became an energy hub. The once magnificent Qin Chuan Plain has paled in comparison. Every day, vehicles from all over the country, laden with a dazzling array of goods, come here to trade on this prosperous road. Don't mistake it for a transit port; the eager end-users are using these goods to pursue even greater profits. The prosperous reputation and frequent trade have attracted even more gold diggers, along with vehicles passing through other provinces. The once wide road, with the increase in traffic, has almost lost its purpose as a highway, and traffic jams have become increasingly common on this thousand-mile-long dike.
In the early morning of August 26, 2012, a sleeper bus carrying 39 people from Hohhot to Xi'an entered the Huaziping section of Yan'an and rear-ended a large truck carrying methanol, causing the bus to catch fire and resulting in 36 deaths.
I don't know the specifics of the accident, only from today's news. I've traveled this main road more than once this year; the most recent time was yesterday noon when my colleague and I were driving from Xi'an to Jingbian County. The accident happened on our route. Just one night later, this tragedy struck; 36 vibrant lives vanished in the darkness, and this morning's glimmer of dawn became their final farewell. I have no interest in investigating the details of the accident or understanding the final outcome. I don't know the gender ratio of those 36 people, nor the age ratio, nor where they came from or where they were going. Perhaps Hohhot was their starting point, and Xi'an their destination, or perhaps both were transit points—we know nothing!
For humans, hardship may prolong life, but in the face of natural disasters and man-made calamities, life is so fragile. Imagine if those 36 passengers had known such a tragedy would occur—would they still have taken the bus? I think not. Even if you killed them, they wouldn't embark on this journey. But there aren't many "what ifs" in life. At any given moment, our lives offer only one choice. When they embarked on this journey, they carried their own affairs, and with the hopes of ordinary people, they headed towards tomorrow. But what awaited them was eternal regret. Perhaps we can sense their composure as they boarded the bus, perhaps we can imagine their peaceful sleep in the sleeper bus, perhaps they were sound asleep in their own dreams, only to be swallowed by external nightmares. But we, as ordinary people like them, don't know what awaits us next.
Out of respect for life, we don't care who they are, but when the two vehicles collided and the fire spread, it's not hard to picture the expressions of those who perished in the flames—panic, sorrow, and helplessness—all in their eyes at that moment. Perhaps only survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake can truly tell you the inner world they experienced at that moment, or perhaps the scenes depicted in the movie "Aftershock." For them, it was a life-or-death journey; fortune and misfortune both favored them and extinguished them in the unknown future. When this devastating news was made public, we could only offer our heartfelt blessings, hoping their souls could rest in peace, and wishing those of us who are still alive, and those survivors, peace and happiness on our future journeys!
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