Two hours to rescue 41 people in the Aegean Sea

Face to face丨Rescue 41 people in two hours. Chinese forces in the Aegean shipwreck rescue

　　In the Aegean waters off Halki Island in southeastern Greece, a refugee ship was about to sink. In the face of the disaster, regardless of race or nationality, a Chinese cargo ship stepped forward and rescued 41 people in distress.

When asked where they came from, the Chinese crew replied: We are from China We are Chinese, we are Chinese!

　　Through the international roaming signal when the ship stayed at the anchorage of Kavkz Port (Kavkz Port) in Russia, the reporter of "Face to Face" conducted online interviews with the crew mainly involved in the rescue.

This is not a drill!

Emergency rescue of Chinese cargo ship in Aegean Sea

　　On August 25, local time, the OCEAN ANG bulk carrier of Huayang Maritime Center Co., Ltd. was carrying out the loading voyage from Alexandria, Egypt to Kavkz, Russia.

At about 17:00, the OCEAN ANG received a call from the Olympia radio station, requesting it to go to a designated location to assist in checking whether a ship was in distress.

　　The OCEAN ANG approached the designated location, and the sinking ship and the drowning person in the water told the OCEAN ANG captain Zhang Hui how urgent the situation was this time.

　　This was an emergency that Zhang Hui had never encountered in his 33 years of sailing. He fed back the news of the ship’s distress to the radio station, and the Greek Coast Guard immediately requested the OCEAN ANG to coordinate surrounding ships for rescue.

　　Zhang Hui initiated the emergency deployment. The first mate Xu Jinwen, who was on duty on the bridge, was the on-site commander. He broadcasted to the entire ship: According to the emergency deployment, people fell into the water. This is not an exercise!

　　Li Kefei, third officer of the OCEAN ANG bulk carrier.

After hearing the broadcast, he picked up the life jacket and ran to the assembly point, wearing the life jacket while running.

　　On the OCEAN ANG bulk carrier, a number of drills such as personnel falling into the water, lifeboat abandonment, and firefighting are conducted in accordance with the prescribed procedures every month.

Li Kefei was in charge of firefighting and life-saving, but it was the first time that the exercise fell into actual combat.

　　On the surface of the sea, there are densely packed people. They are afraid and afraid. They are pushed farther and farther by the waves. Li Kefei has never seen such a situation. "It makes my legs feel weak."

　　The emotion of fear will not affect the rescue, and the inspection of the life-saving equipment before entering the water is completed quickly. Li Kefei led the three-tube wheel, a sailor, and a mechanic driving a lifeboat close to the person who fell into the water.

Adults holding children up to two minutes late may be "that"

　　On that day, a total of five cargo ships, including the OCEAN ANG bulk carrier, participated in the rescue.

According to the arrangement, other ships involved in the rescue are mainly rescued from a distance, while the Chinese cargo ship conducts search and rescue near the sunken ship.

On the sea, someone was beating the waves, and Li Kefei directed the sailor to approach them.

Li Kefei:

Six people, four adults and two children. There are only two life buoys. The four adults’ heads are already immersed in the water. They can’t breathe. After a while, they

the two children with their hands. pushing.

Reporter:

How long do you think they can last in this state?

Li Kefei:

If we are two minutes late, I guess those adults will probably be there, because they had no strength at the time. They used a lot of strength to support the child to struggle upwards, and the buoyancy of the two lifebuoys themselves was not very good. Big.

　　Fearing that the propeller might injure people in distress, the lifeboat could not get too close rashly, and could only throw the lifebuoy to the person who fell into the water within a safe distance.

　　But this method is not feasible, and the lifebuoy is thrown down, and the drowning personnel simply cannot reach it.

In desperation, Li Kefei and the others turned the direction of the lifeboat and approached the person overboard.

Li Kefei tilted his body, grabbed the lifebuoy of the person who fell into the water, and tried to pull the person who fell into the water onto the lifeboat.

　　The door of the lifeboat is located at the stern of the ship, a certain distance above the surface of the water, and it is not easy to pull the exhausted overboard into the cabin.

Li Kefei: The

three of us have to stand there, we can't stand at all.

We can only stand there with two of us, and then one person behind is pulling our clothes.

Reporter:

In fact, at that time, people couldn't use their strength at all, so they needed to use a particularly awkward posture to use their strength?

Li Kefei:

Yes, that's what it means, because the four adults of them are very heavy, and it is quite difficult for us to pull them from the water to our boat.

Reporter:

Save them, what happened to you?

Li Kefei:

I didn't think much about it. They all cried in the lifeboat in their arms, kneeling in our boat and crying. Thank you to our crew.

I asked our three-pipe wheel to quickly take out emergency fresh water for them to drink first. We didn’t think about fatigue or other things. We just wanted to save people as soon as possible. It’s already dark, and we won’t be able to see it if we don’t save it. The rescue is more difficult.

The waves pushed the overwhelmed person farther and farther and the lifeboat caught up and the crew dived to rescue

　　The rescued person in the water told Li Kefei that there were still people in the water not far ahead. Li Kefei commanded the sailors to increase their horsepower and drove the lifeboats to rescue these people.

　　After saving the two groups of people, the sky has gradually dimmed.

In the distance, several people without life jackets were swimming desperately, trying to get close to the lifeboat.

But the increasingly urgent waves pushed them farther, and the lifeboat could only run after them.

Li Kefei:

We are equivalent to being on the water. They are far away from us. So we turn the lifeboat around, which is equivalent to following him in the same direction, driving him away and chasing him quickly.

They had run out of strength and threw them a lifebuoy, and some of them couldn't catch it. We tried our best to keep the boat close to them about one or two meters away.

　　After dark, the swells are also relatively large, and the sailors who need to operate the lifeboat to drive the lifeboat close to the person who fell into the water have good maneuverability. In addition, the rear command also needs to communicate fully with the sailor.

Reporter:

Our sailors want to push them up by manpower?

Li Kefei:

Well, so the process is very slow. One of the people we rescued tried to throw the lifebuoy with him several times, but he couldn't catch it.

There is no way, only one of us sailor wears a life jacket and a life buoy. We pull him with a rope. After he goes into the water, he pulls the person who fell into the water, and we pull them back together.

Reporter:

It is very dangerous for us sailors?

Li Kefei:

Yes, none of us thought about it at the time, because they didn't have life-saving equipment, so hurry up and rescue them.

The ship in distress slowly sinks "let the women and children board the boat first"

　　With the efforts of Li Kefei and other rescue ships, the people who were visible in the water from the sea have been rescued from a distance. The ship in distress was sinking a little bit, and the height above the water was less than two meters.

Li Kefei commanded the sailors to drive the lifeboat to the slowly sinking accident ship. On the top of the cabin, there were more than 20 people waiting for rescue.

Reporter:

What method did you use to rescue them on board?

Li Kefei:

Because there is a ship already sinking below, it sinks slowly, there are obstacles underneath.

Our ship circled around the sinking ship, and found that it was sinking at an angle. Most of the hull was inclined to the right. We tried to lean on the left as much as possible, and it was about half a meter away from it. Then we took their hands, skipped one by one, and jumped onto our boat.

　　Due to the limited carrying capacity of the lifeboat, Li Kefei decided to let women and children board the boat first.

On the mother ship, on-site commander Xu Jinwen has been paying close attention to the rescue of the lifeboat. When Li Kefei's lifeboat was full of people and was about to return to the mother ship, the rescue boat led by Xu Jinwen just arrived. The remaining 13 people were divided into two groups and rescued by the rescue boat.

Give your food to the rescued, the rescued thumbs up thank China

　　The rescued people asked where the crew were. When they learned that the crew were from China, they gave a thumbs up.

Subsequently, 41 people who fell into the water were successfully transferred to the OCEAN ANG bulk carrier.

In the cabin, the crew gave their meals to the rescued personnel. The captain Zhang Hui immediately arranged for the crew to check the body temperature of the rescued personnel, distribute masks in accordance with the epidemic prevention requirements, and perform basic wound treatment for the injured.

At around 10 pm, 41 rescued people were transferred to the ships of the Greek Coast Guard, and the rescue that lasted more than five hours ended successfully.

　　According to statistics, in this rescue operation, the Greek Coast Guard and five cargo ships rescued a total of 96 people who fell into the water. Among them, the OCEAN ANG successfully rescued 41 people, the largest number of people who were rescued.

On August 26, the Greek Coast Guard stated that the shipwreck rescue operation involved a large number of people, most of whom did not have life-saving equipment, and the night rescue was difficult. It was one of the largest and most successful rescue operations in the Aegean Sea.

Chinese seafarers have been sticking to the epidemic

　　On the evening of August 25, after successfully transferring the rescued personnel, the OCEAN ANG resumed normal voyage.

The rescue is just an episode, and the ship has returned to the closed isolation since the beginning of the epidemic.

After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, governments of various countries imposed restrictions on entry and exit and aircraft flights, and crew members were unable to change shifts normally. Many Chinese crew members had overdue services and stayed at their jobs, ensuring the maritime transportation of basic materials around the world.

　　This year is Li Kefei's 7th year as a seafarer, and also the most difficult year.

When he boarded the ship in January this year, his son had just reached his full moon and was now 10 months old, but he could not be with his son.

Li Kefei: I

can't accompany him or teach him. It belongs to the communication and interaction between father and son. For example, even simple movements like pulling his little hands are impossible.

We haven't been to the land since we went up at the beginning of the year. We usually do our own work on the ship. There is no signal in the ocean. Generally, the signal will only be available after arriving at the port. At that time, the mobile phone will activate international roaming to contact home.

But the general situation is that there is no Internet for two or three months, so there may be a little loneliness and a little tired in my heart, and there may be a little worry about the epidemic.

　　36-year-old Xu Jinwen is also the father of two children.

15 years of sailing experience accounted for almost half of his previous life.

This time, Xu Jinwen failed to see his elder son in person on his first day of primary school due to the epidemic.

"Dad, what exactly are you doing?" Before, whenever his son asked, Xu Jinwen hesitated between the "seaman" and the "runner".

After the Aegean rescue was over, the son told him, Dad, I am proud of you.

Xu Jinwen:

Since I opened in China, I haven't been on shore.

Our crew has a saying that we should always be stubborn.

Because it is said that people are made of soil, and if they live on the water for a long time, they will have vitality only if they are touched, otherwise they will be very tired if they spend a long time on the water.

　　Now, the OCEAN ANG bulk carrier has completed the loading of the Russian port and is on a new voyage. In more than 20 days, they will arrive in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

　　Producer丨Zhang Shifeng

　　Reporter丨Wang Ning