Shocked passengers comfort each other

After Shenzhen bus route 310-315 crashed into a cart carrying swill on January 2, photographs of dishevelled passengers snapped by a bystander went viral on Sina Weibo. Initially, it was thought that the passengers were covered in sewage, but it was later revealed that it was swill, kitchen waste that is commonly used as animal feed, according to CRI English.

There were only eight passengers on board and they were sent to a nearby hotel to take a shower, given new clothes and compensated 1,000 yuan each by the bus company. No serious injuries were reported.

It appears the conductor was one of the lucky ones who was standing at the back

Netizens’ reactions ranged from sympathy to schadenfreude. One popular meme was: “The most serious traffic accident in the world,” (a pun in which the word “world” 世 is replaced by the word “feces” 屎 which sounds the same in Chinese).

Others wondered whether this may have been caused by the controversial new traffic measures that took effect January 1.

One netizen urged the passengers to go and buy lottery tickets as outlandish misfortune may be followed by outlandish fortune. Another argued that at least the nation was now short of a truckload of gutter oil.

Passengers wait to be taken off to shower and get changed