Battling the pain of a ruptured liver, crushed by a falling lamppost, a bus driver helps lead 26 passengers to safety after the highway accident in East China's Zhejiang province on Sunday.

Mao Zhihao, 44, was operating the No. 602 bus from Jiangshan county to Quzhou county at about 5:00 pm when a collision on the opposite lane knocked down a lamppost and sent it flying through the driver's window of Mao's bus.

The surveillance camera on the bus shows Mao being struck by the lamppost in the upper body. Stunned and injured, he struggles to his feet, adjusts the steering wheel and handbrake before evacuating the bus and calling for help.

"I asked Mao if he was hurt when I got off. He pointed to his stomach pain," recalled Yu Jingya, the conductor. “And I saw was blood on his hands.”

He was diagnosed with a ruptured liver and is being treated in a hospital in Jiangshan county.

Mao's heroic action is reminiscent of another brave rescue by a bus driver near the area in Quzhou county. On December 12, Jiang Yonggu, struck by a stroke, was able to stop the bus before he went into coma.