Construction Worker Unsuccessfully Tries To Row His Excavator Across River

It seemed like a simple plan. The construction worker needed to get his excavator across a river. Yes, he could have waited for one of the big flatbed trailers to arrive. However, he heard that it would be days before one of those trailers showed up. Instead, we imagine, he started humming “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Before he knew it, his excavator was halfway across the river, sinking, and he was thinking that he had made a mistake.

Footage of the incident circulated widely on Chinese social media. The innovative construction worker floated his grand idea last month in the city of Jiangmen. Located in Guangdong province in southern China, there is currently a large building boom in the city. Because of the high demand for new housing, construction crews are pressed for time and cannot afford delays. Unfortunately, a delay is what the 32-year-old driver of the excavator faced. He had to transport his earthmover across the West River of the Pearl River Delta. Rather than wait for a trailer truck to arrive and relocate the piece of heavy construction equipment, the driver began modifying a raft.

In less than a day, his raft was ready to go. Despite its ultimate failure, the raft’s construction held up to the brunt of the excavator and floated, even with the machine on top. After driving onto the raft, the construction worker began paddling his craft across the river. Video of the effort shows that the driver’s stroke and rhythm were impressive. Initially, he made good progress toward the other riverbank. However, he could not maintain that stroke and, eventually, the machine toppled over. Fortunately, the man escaped from the cab before it flooded. He hung onto the side of the construction machine until firefighters arrived.

Thankfully, firefighters reached him quickly and before the digging machine sank. After placing the construction worker in a life vest and pulling him to shore with safety lines, firefighters warned others from attempting a similar folly. They stressed impatience is not an excuse for incompetence. There are no reports detailing whether the construction worker received a fine or how the excavator will be removed from the river.