Rescue helicopter lands on highway in Wuxi

Paramedics strap an injured man into an air ambulance on a highway in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Sept 13. [Photo/wxrb.com]

The officer was referring to a pile-up that happened on the Changzhou section of the Hurong Expressway in April 2016.

The accident caused such a severe traffic jam that Wuxi's rescue teams were unable to reach the site of the incident, with ambulances needing to be sent from neighboring city Yuqi instead, resulting in severe delays.

With the travel rush for the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays set to begin in just two weeks, the emergency services were keen to trial the air ambulance service to ensure that a similar incident did not happen again.

But helicopters are not likely to become a common sight on Wuxi's highways any time soon.

The vehicles require a large landing area to be cleared on the highway, which is difficult to do during the morning rush hour.

And the service does not come cheap. The rescued patient will be given a bill of 40,000 yuan ($6,000) after they arrive at the hospital.