On Sunday, a truck overturned on a highway in rural Jiangxi province, spilling its cargo of oranges out onto the road. But that was only the beginning of the driver’s problems.
Villagers living nearby rushed to the scene of the accident, not to aid the driver and his nephew, but to grab all the oranges that they possibly could.
Video from the incident shows the driver trying desperately to save his oranges from the looters. Instead, he is attacked and roughed up by the locals before they leave with bags full of his fruit when the police finally show up.


Completely helpless to do anything, the driver breaks down into tears on the side of the road. Later, he told reporters that this was his first long-haul delivery, transporting the oranges all the way from Hunan province.

You can watch the video below:

Since this was his first job, perhaps he was unaware that this kind of thing happens all the time in China. Every time that a cargo of oranges, melon seeds, pears, live crabs, yogurt bottles, baby chicks, and sulfur powder is spilled onto the street, locals frantically rush to pick up as much of it as they can — with some rare exceptions, like beehives for instance.
Supporters of this practice say that much of the produce is damaged from the crash, and would go bad anyway if they weren’t gathered up by the opportunistic locals. Critics have called it nothing more than shameful looting that puts overworked drivers in an even worse spot.
[Images via KanKan News]