A courageous driver has risked his life to steer a burning tanker truck out of a filling station in the southern Vietnamese province of An Giang to prevent a worse consequence.

Nguyen Chi Anh, a 38-year-old truck driver from the north-central province of Ha Tinh, has been praised for his courage after driving the on-fire vehicle out of the place on Friday afternoon.

At around 4:20 pm, Anh drove his tanker truck to the gas station in Tinh Bien District, An Giang to refill the fuel dispensers at the venue.

While he was performing the task, the vehicle started to catch fire, which quickly went out of control.

Anh did not think twice before hopping on the truck, which was then on fire, and steering it away from the filling station to prevent the worst-case scenario.

The truck is seen being heavily damaged by the fire. Photo: Tuoi Tre

“He drove the burning truck out of the gas station for a distance before jumping off. What a brave man!” Thanh, a witness, recounted. “The entire filling station could have burned down.”

Four fire trucks and some 70 officers from the local firefighting police station were dispatched to the location shortly to put out the flames.

At around 5:30 pm the same day, the fire was extinguished while the tanker truck was nearly destroyed, according to Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Hai, an official from the police station in Tinh Bien District.

The fueling station is operated by the Mekong Petroleum JSC and is owned by Tran Van Si, 39, hailing from the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, Lt. Col. Hai added.

Further investigation is being carried out to determine the cause of the fire.

Bystanders witness the incident. Photo: Tuoi Tre 

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