Hong Kong World Cup fan becomes accidental hero after terrifying car crash in Russia
After crashing his hire car, Chris Taylor found himself in safe hands – a hospital braced for England’s famously rowdy fans – and a local celebrity. He spoke to Post Magazine from his Volgograd sick bed about the unexpected kindness of Russians
“The England team is marching on into the last 16 of the World Cup, in Russia. But my World Cup journey began and ended on the road to Volgograd, when I travelled from Hong Kong to watch their first game against Tunisia [on June 19].
“I had flown from Hong Kong to Moscow and then way down south, to a town called Mineralnye Vody, in the Caucus Mountains, near the border with Georgia. I picked up a hire car there and drove for about four hours to Elista, which is a strange and interesting part of Russia. It’s the only predominantly Buddhist part of Europe. It’s where a lot of Mongolians live and, when you’re driving around and taking photos, it looks exactly like Mongolia.
Chris Taylor is interviewed by a Russian television channel
“It was a beautiful day. I was having such a good time driving through these vast open flat lands under big skies into this Mongolian part of Russia. I was about 40km short of Volgograd and kick-off was only a few hours away when the accident happened.
