Woman Punished for Blocking High-Speed Train in China for Late Husband

By Holly Kellum
January 11, 2018 Last Updated: January 11, 2018
A Chinese woman tries to block the doors of a train with her body to prevent it from leaving without her husband in Hefei, China, on Feb. 5, 2017. (Screenshot via South China Morning Post/Facebook)

After footage of a woman blocking a train from leaving in eastern China went viral and the woman was suspended from her job at a local elementary school.

The woman, Luo Haili, was trying to stop a high-speed in train the city of Hefei from leaving without her husband, who was being held at the ticket counter.

She can be seen in the video blocking the door with her body while her daughter stands on the platform, watching her mother tussle with train staff who asked her repeatedly to get on or off.

At one point, a train personnel physically pulled her away from the door and she fell onto the ground.

A Chinese woman is dragged by train personnel from the doors of a train that she is trying to prevent from leaving without her husband in Hefei, China, on Feb. 5, 2017. (Screenshot via South China Morning Post/Facebook)

The doors started to close, but Luo Haili stuck her foot in the door and, apparently not wanting to injure her, train staff opened the door again. She managed to get back in front of the door and refused to step aside until her husband got on.

Local media report that the family was eventually able to board the train.

According to state-run China Daily, the train doors close a few minutes before departure. The woman got on a couple of minutes before the train was supposed to leave, and she said that is why she refused to budge when her husband was only minutes away.

In the video, Luo Haili can be heard asking train staff to release her husband so they could all get on the train.

The train was going from Hefei to Guangzhou, and was the only train running that route that day.

“Because the child has stuff to do in the other city, we were in a hurry, and there was only one train that day, or otherwise we would have to wait till the next day,” Luo Haili told the Shanghai Morning Post, according to China Daily.

China Daily reported that the train was delayed by four minutes, but the Anhui Traffic Broadcast said that was a rumor, and that the dispute was resolved one minute before departure.

The Jan. 5 incident has sparked outrage online, mostly at the woman for holding an entire train for her husband.

The woman said she and her daughter were running to catch the train and didn’t notice her husband wasn’t with them until she got there. She said she thought they had a few more minutes until the train departed and didn’t understand why train personnel wouldn’t let her husband in.

While she did get her way in the end, police have launched an investigation into the incident, and on Tuesday, Jan. 9, she was suspended from her job as a deputy dean in a primary school in Hefei, China Daily reports.

According to the The Observer, she could face a fine of up to 2,000 yuan ($308) and up to 10 days in jail for trying to delay the train.

 

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