He risked his skin to save others — and surreal video shows his dash across a busy highway.
Athar Ali has become something of a national hero in Pakistan after video footage showing him stopping a runaway truck was publicized by Dunya News.
According to Dunya News, Ali was driving with his family on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway when they spotted the truck, careening down the road without a driver or working brakes, coming up behind them.
In the video, Ali and his family speak what sounds to be a mixture of English and Urdu in their car, with Ali's son yelling, "Oh s**t" repeatedly as the truck approaches.
"It's dangerous, yeah?" Ali says. "I need to stop that truck."
The boy and a woman, presumably Ali's wife, yell for him to stay in their car, but he dashes out across the highway and hops inside the truck.
"Oh my god, YOLO," the woman screams, which stands for You Only Live Once.
Ali steered the truck for more than a mile, he told Dunya News, before he could finally get it stopped.
Watch the harrowing moments below (content warning: strong language):
On Twitter, grateful Pakistanis poured out their praise, thanking Ali, nominating him for prime minister and comparing him to Keanu Reeves in "Speed."
—
Follow Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) on Twitter
