The accident happened when the driver of the electric moped pulled out in front of the truck driver prompting him to suddenly brake and swerve. The fully loaded truck rolled, spilling ten tonnes of hot asphalt onto the moped driver.

The accident occurred in Yuhuan, Zhejiang province on the 14th around noon. The truck's driver, Yang Fu, was on his way from the waterfront to a nearby construction site. According to him, while crossing an intersection the moped came suddenly from his right. In an attempt to avoid a collision he blasted the horn, braked heavily and veered left, which caused the truck to overturn and dump its load onto the moped driver.

Firefighters wearing heat resistant boots used shovels and hoes to retrieve the body of the 18 year old moped driver. Found nearly an hour after the ordeal, the body was burnt near beyond recognition; the asphalt had apparently been around 100°C. According to a witness on scene, as the truck dumped the asphalt a large plume of black smoke was let forth. The victim appeared to scream sharply from within the asphalt, soon after subsiding into silence. A spokesman for emergency crews reports he would have died within a minute.