SUV goes airborne and gets stuck in trees outside Chongqing tunnel

At around 9:30 am on 5 August, traffic was moving slowly near the outbound exit of Eling Tunnel in Chongqing's Yuzhong district, as the morning rush hour got underway.

A white SUV was travelling normally in the middle lane. There was a bend to the right ahead, with the tunnel entrance on the left. Then, for reasons still unclear, the driver suddenly crossed the solid centre line to the left.

The SUV promptly went airborne.

Dashcam footage captured the whole thing. The SUV hit the rocky slope beside the tunnel entrance, sending a large chunk of rock tumbling down. The bonnet was thrown upwards, before the vehicle came to rest between several trees and an electrical box below.

The SUV was left hanging more than a person's height above the ground, completely stuck in mid-air.

The driver's door opened slightly. He looked down, then pulled back inside. Jumping was clearly not an option.

Other motorists who passed the scene quickly called the police and fire service. Locals said the stretch of road, with its uphill gradient and sharp bend, has seen accidents before. But apparently, no one had managed to turn a car into an aircraft here before.

Firefighters arrived and used a ladder to bring the driver and another passenger safely back down. Thankfully, neither was seriously injured.

The internet gets creative

Once the footage spread online, Chinese social media did what it does best: turned an unusual accident into a running joke.

Some called it a real-life version of QQ Speed, a popular Chinese racing game, while others joked that this was one driving manoeuvre no instructor had ever covered.

Then there was the obvious one: "This isn't a car. It's an aircraft."

But the story got even stranger after the crash. The SUV ended up wedged among flowering trees halfway up the slope, with its nose against the hillside and the rear hanging over the edge.

With the sunlight coming through the trees, the scene almost looked picturesque.

AI-generated image shared by netizens

Some joked that Chongqing's tourism authorities should simply leave the SUV where it was and turn it into a tourist attraction. Give it another couple of years, they said, and the flowers would have grown right around it.

Others added flower petals and soft lighting to the images, turning the crash site into a fake "forest retreat" worthy of a social-media check-in.

What started as a traffic accident had somehow become a piece of urban performance art.

Chongqing: where cars apparently learn to fly

Perhaps the funniest part is that this happened in Chongqing.

AI-generated image shared by netizens

The city is often described in China as an "8D" metropolis. Roads disappear into hills, bridges run through buildings and the light rail passes straight through residential blocks. Even navigation apps can struggle to make sense of it.

Elsewhere, cars park in car parks. In Chongqing, apparently, they park in trees.

AI-generated image shared by netizens

Some will blame the city's extreme terrain. Others will blame the driver. But perhaps that's what makes Chongqing so entertaining: you never quite know where a car will turn up next.

It could be in a tunnel, on a bridge, on the roof of a building — or hanging in a tree halfway up a hillside.

AI-generated image shared by netizens

Thankfully, this particular story ended well. Nobody was seriously hurt, traffic was not brought to a standstill, and the SUV somehow came to rest in a position that was both dangerous and almost surreal.

A bizarre accident became an internet sensation, while Chongqing once again showed just how different driving in the mountain city can be.