---
title: "Watch This Mudslide Bury a Highway Full of Cars in an Instant"
description: "Miraculously, no one was killed."
date: "2017-07-14"
modified: "2017-07-14"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/12505/watch-this-mudslide-bury-a-highway-full-of-cars-in-an-instant"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "Accident"
  - "China"
  - "Dash Cam"
  - "mudslide"
  - "Traffic"
---

# Watch This Mudslide Bury a Highway Full of Cars in an Instant

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/07/mudslide-2.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Next time you're [sitting in traffic](<https://www.thedrive.com/polizei144/6354/traffic-neutrality-is-the-new-net-neutrality>) in the pouring rain, cursing up a storm at the back bumper of the car in front, just remember: as bad as it is, at least you're not buried in ten feet of mud.

But for sixteen people, that glib rejoinder became a terrifying reality this week when a mudslide smashed into a [traffic jam](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/602/the-10-biggest-traffic-jams-ever>) full of cars and trucks on a highway in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Wednesday. Incredible dash cam footage shows the wall of earth blast eight vehicles off the roadway, piling them up on an embankment and covering them in liquefied dirt.

Though three people suffered minor injuries, it's astonishing that everyone survived this disaster. [According to *CCTV*,](<https://www.cctvplus.com/news/20170713/8055500.shtml#!language=1>) many of the uninjured survivors were able to dig their own way out, with emergency responders helping to extract the rest. The mudslide was reportedly caused by unusually heavy rains in the area.

https://youtube.com/embed/vxTVhnLLXP4

The video is indeed shocking, but it's also a great illustration of how mudslides move and what makes them so dangerous. The slide looks almost like muddy water as it hits the cars, but seconds later you'll see it set like cement as soon as it stops moving—that quick transition from a liquid flow to a solid state is just as deadly as the initial impact.

https://youtube.com/embed/hNDLsTDWNqw

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)