In another shocking example of China's brutal roads, a young boy who was knocked down was then reversed over to make sure he was dead, it has been claimed.
Five-year-old Xiong Maoke was on his way home from nursery school in Luzhou, western China when the lorry first ran him over.
The driver is then alleged to have reversed back over the youngster because he feared being lumbered with expensive hospital bills if Xiong survived.
It comes just over a week after two-year-old toddler Yue Yue was run over twice after passers-by failed to help her. The girl later died.
With no National Health Service in China many of its poorer inhabitants, especially in rural areas, need medical compensation to survive accidents.
Witness Zhang Shifen said: ‘I saw the truck move back a little and then move forward again. Xiong became wrapped up in the wheel and the truck continued forward another ten yards.’
However Chinese officials have denied that the truck reversed to make sure the child was killed.
Although the boy’s body lay underneath the truck for hours, leaving the heartbroken mother sitting on a stool by the wheel under which her son was crushed, officials said this was because angry villagers were demanding immediate compensation from the driver.
The argument over how much to pay lasted over seven hours. The 35-year-old truck driver Ao Yong denied trying to kill the boy and both Police and officials have said that Xiong died on impact.