Qingdao Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team insists on free rescue
They have rescued more than 1,300 people in 14 years
Our reporter Zhang Qiang
Since its establishment 14 years ago, the Qingdao Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team has participated in 742 rescues at home and abroad, and successfully rescued 1,337 people.
In a coastal tourist city, they also have an important mission: to rescue tourists trapped in mountains and seas.
One day at the end of February, an undeveloped mountain area of the Chaoyin Waterfall in Beijiushui, Laoshan Mountain, Qingdao, Shandong Province, happened to an unauthorized tourist who fell off a cliff.
After receiving a call from the 120 command center, 20 members of the Qingdao Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team quickly assembled.
It took 20 minutes to arrive at the scene, 30 minutes to deal with the injuries, and 30 minutes to transport the wounded... In the applause of the tourists, the rescue team left the scene after a little tidying up, just as they were in a hurry when they came.
For the Qingdao Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team, this is just a moment in their 14-year rescue journey.
not just hot blood
Laoshan, Chengyang, West Coast... The Qingdao Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team has a total of 7 rescue sites, which are located in various urban areas of Qingdao.
At the Chengyang site, the four walls of the office were covered with pennants, and one of the pennants with the words "Blue Sky Rescue Love Without Borders" caught the reporter's attention.
"June 25, 2016." Li Yanzhao, the captain of the rescue team, clearly stated the date.
At 12:30 noon that day, the rescue team had just arrived in Qingdao after the tornado rescue mission in Yancheng, Jiangsu, when they received a call from the Laoshan Branch of the Public Security Bureau: Three tourists around 55 years old accidentally fell off a cliff while climbing an undeveloped mountain. , seriously injured.
After arriving at the scene, Li Yanzhao and the team were "dumb eyes": the two peaks are V-shaped, only 2 meters at the widest point, the entire mountain slope is 75 degrees, the surrounding terrain is steep, there is no room for standing, and helicopters cannot enter.
At this time, a female tourist who fell off the cliff was covered with scars all over her body, she was incontinent, and her cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and limbs all had fractures to varying degrees.
The situation was critical, Li Yanzhao quickly notified the members of the second, third and fourth echelons to come to support, and started the rope rescue plan at the same time. The team members drove 38 sets of car repair geckos and hanging pieces into the mountain and erected them between the two 550-meter-high peaks. A ten-lane crossing system is used to fix the wounded on the stretcher laterally on the rope and transport them outward in a zigzag shape.
While building ropes, the rescue team comforted the wounded: "Are you cold? Are you hungry? Don't be afraid, we will ensure your safety." After 12 hours of difficult rescue, the three tourists were safely sent to the local hospital.
This rescue has also become a typical case of domestic mountain rescue using the most ropes and the most difficult one.
In 2008, Li Yanzhao, who was still a radio enthusiast at the time, spontaneously formed this rescue team with six "telephone friends".
The first time I participated in the rescue was to support the earthquake-stricken area in Yushu, Qinghai. The rescue team prepared its own power-generating equipment, medicines and other relief materials and drove 7,000 kilometers to the earthquake-stricken area.
"It was only after we went there that we found out that we had the most complete equipment, but we didn't know any rescue techniques, so we could only provide logistical services." Li Yanzhao said.
That experience made Li Yan enlightened: The rescue cannot be empty of enthusiasm, but also has excellent quality.
After more than ten years of study, the rescue team has now become one of the few in China that has mastered many rescue technologies such as pre-hospital first aid, mountain search and rescue, rapid flow and flood rescue, building collapse rescue, ice surface rescue, vehicle accident rescue, and mountain fire rescue. Each year, it provides nearly 100 rescue courses for domestic and foreign fire rescue personnel and government emergency personnel.
In recent years, Li Yanzhao and his team members have participated in the compilation of the two standards of the Ministry of Emergency Management, "Emergency Rescuers" and "Specifications for the Construction of Rescue Teams for Social Emergency Forces". They have become communicators who have mastered top rescue techniques from initial learners. .
There are countless "records" and regrets
Being in a coastal tourist city, the Qingdao Red Cross Blue Sky Rescue Team has one more mission: to rescue tourists trapped in mountains and seas.
Li Yanzhao told reporters that the tidal changes in the sea area of Qingdao are relatively large, and the landforms in the mountains are complex. Many tourists are trapped on the reefs because they are addicted to the seascape, or they lose contact or fall off cliffs when they enter undeveloped mountain areas in order to enjoy the wonders of the mountains and rivers. accident.
On December 20, 2012, a middle-aged male tourist in his 50s climbed the "Wild Mountain" and got lost and asked for help.
"His mobile phone is about to run out of power, and he can't accurately describe his location. The rescue is very difficult." At 3:30 pm, the rescue team began a search and rescue of 50 square kilometers.
At 11:20 in the night, the rescue team finally determined the location of the tourist, and while speeding up the pace, they told him to "stay where you are and don't move."
But when it was about 700 meters away from him, a scream pierced the night sky: "He is in a steep position, and he fell off the cliff." The heavy snow covered it all night, and the rescue team searched the mountain for more than ten days before removing the body. turn up.
"If it wasn't for the sudden heavy snowfall, if there were search and rescue dogs at the time, the rescue on that day would have been successful." Although it has been 10 years, Li Yanzhao still remembers the details at that time and is full of regrets.
Today, the rescue team has been equipped with 4 search and rescue dogs, purchased rescue equipment worth more than 13 million yuan, and has 15 full-time rescuers and 147 volunteers, making it a first-class professional rescue team.
In the past 14 years, the rescue team has participated in 742 rescues at home and abroad, and successfully rescued 1,337 people.
Voluntary rescue continues
A civilian rescue team, all rescue missions are free, team founder Zhen Renxiang said: "Without Captain Li, we would not be able to survive today."
When the rescue team stumbled, in order to maintain daily expenses, Li Yanzhao subsidized his income to the rescue team every month. Later, he relied on the extra money earned by digging dung to buy equipment for the team.
With the improvement of rescue technology, the income earned by the rescue team through teaching can basically meet the team's expenses.
"We will deposit the funds earned into the rescue team's account, and each expenditure needs to be voted on by the team committee." Accountant Zhang Yuan said.
Police officers, teachers, workshop workers, psychological counselors, cooks, couriers... The 147 volunteers in the team come from all walks of life.
Whether it is weekly fixed skills training, duty on special holidays, or emergency rescue calls, volunteers are all "as expected", and the rescue team maintains a weekly participation rate of 90 to 110 people.
Such a team, when people's needs and business scope conflict, they often choose the former.
In July 2020, a foreign couple contacted the rescue team, hoping they could help search and rescue their 17-year-old son who was missing at sea.
At that time, the sea area of Qingdao was under the influence of a typhoon, with waves as high as 9 meters.
Salvaging the corpse is not within the scope of life rescue, but looking at the helpless eyes of the couple, Li Yanzhao, who is also a father, agreed to the request.
After two consecutive days of searching at sea for seven or eight hours a day, the boy's body was finally found.
Despite their grief, the couple did not forget to kneel to express their gratitude to the rescue team.
Li Yanzhao told reporters that mountain and sea rescue is only a small part of the rescue team's work. In recent years, with the improvement of tourists' quality and understanding of marine knowledge, there have been obvious cases of climbing "wild mountains", trapped reefs, and shallow sea drowning. reduce.
As a rescue force in a tourist city, the rescue team also represents the image of Qingdao and the city's temperature. There have also been public figures who have publicly proposed a "rescue fee" proposal, but Li Yanzhao politely declined: "Life cannot be a money transaction, and voluntary rescue is this. We'll keep doing it."