Passersby work together to clear the scene after a fruit delivery truck overturned on a road in Busan, scattering dozens of boxes of apples. [Captured from Threads]
Passersby work together to clear the scene after a fruit delivery truck overturned on a road in Busan, scattering dozens of boxes of apples. [Captured from Threads]

Passersby in Busan rallied together to clean up after a fruit delivery truck overturned on a road, sending dozens of apples spilling across the pavement.

Photos and eyewitness accounts of the accident near Yeonsan Station in Yeonje-gu, Busan, were posted to Threads on Wednesday.

The images showed the truck lying on its side with yellow apple boxes scattered across the road. Some apples had been crushed under the weight of the boxes.

Elderly residents, students and other passersby stopped in their tracks and began gathering the apples strewn across the road to help tidy up the scene.

A person who shared the photos said no one was injured. "Several passersby came out onto the road and picked up the spilled fruit," the person said. "Everyone stayed until the police arrived and the cleanup was finished. The world is still a warm place."

Residents take peaches from the scene of a truck rollover in Dezhou, Shandong province, China, in 2018. [Photo = SCMP]
Residents take peaches from the scene of a truck rollover in Dezhou, Shandong province, China, in 2018. [Photo = SCMP]

As the Busan incident drew attention online, it prompted comparisons with past cases in China where bystanders reacted very differently to similar situations.

In September 2018, a truck carrying fruit overturned in Dezhou, Shandong province, spilling about 5 metric tons of peaches onto the road. Bystanders filled bags and boxes with the peaches and took them away. Police tried to intervene, but some people continued taking the fruit, and one woman reportedly challenged officers, asking whether her actions were illegal.

A similar incident occurred in Yichun, Jiangxi province, in November 2016. When a truck carrying tangerines overturned, residents gathered up the fruit scattered on the road. When the driver and a nephew tried to stop them, some residents assaulted the two, according to reports. The driver collapsed at the scene in tears and had reportedly borrowed money to pay for the vehicle.


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