One Man Saved A Bus From Plummeting 300ft In The Nick Of Time

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One Man Saved A Bus From Plummeting 300ft In The Nick Of Time

EPA

Going on a tour of the Austrian Alps sounds like a dream for a lot of people. For one group of tourists, it turned out to be their worst nightmare. A tour bus full of passengers avoided near catastrophe while travelling through the scenic mountains, all thanks to one passenger.

EPA

The bus held 21 tourists as well as a driver, when one of the tourists noticed something was wrong. A 65-year-old man from France was sitting right near the driver when he realized that he didn't look like he was doing well. The bus was heading down the road that surrounded the steep 330-foot drop, when the 76-year-old driver collapsed.

Luckily, the quick-thinking passenger managed to step in at the last second...

As the bus was heading towards the cliff, the tourist rushed forward and was able to pull the emergency brake, stopping the bus "at the last second" according to the news agency.

"We were a hair's breadth from catastrophe," the police spokesman said, saying that it was "incredible luck" that the tourist was able to stop the bus in time.

Polizei Zell Am Ziller

Thanks to his quick thinking, the bus was able to come to a stop after it hit a tree. It ended up with the trunk jammed into the front of the bus, but at least it didn't fall over the edge. Nine people were brought to the hospital, but it could have been a lot worse.

This isn't the first time that an incident like this has taken place on the Austrian Alps. Back in 2004, a coach bus went off the road, and ended up going over a 30m cliff. In that case, five tourists passed away from the crash. Hopefully bus companies can use situations like this to learn from and help prepare their passengers for events like this so they know how to use the emergency brake to prevent future disasters.