A Chinese motorist had a lucky escape when his mini bus plunged down a sheer drop off a mountainside road – and was ‘caught’ by a passing lorry.

Yu Lin, from Nanyang, Henan Province, was on his way to collect his five-year-old daughter from a friend’s house when his bus skidded on a mud patch and careered over the drop.

“I could feel myself falling and it all seemed to be happening in slow motion like a movie. I thought to myself, ‘That’s it, you’re going to die’,” explained Wu. 32.

“Then all of a sudden there was a bump and I stopped in mid air as if I’d been caught by a giant hand.”

Astonished witnesses told police that Wu’s bus had become wedged in the gap between the truck and the sheer bank in a million to one freak chance.

“Luckily the truck driver stopped instantly and the mini bus was stuck between it and the cliff and the driver could climb down to safety,” said a Nanyang police spokesman.