Recently, a flash flood occurred in Longcaogou, Longmenshan Town, Pengzhou City, Chengdu, Sichuan, causing casualties (7 dead and 8 minor injuries) among the tourists.
At present, the local on-site search and rescue work has ended, and it has moved to the aftermath stage.
After the incident, many netizens found that this place was actually a "Internet celebrity check-in place".
In fact, this is an undeveloped scenic spot, which is a geological disaster site and has experienced flash floods many times.
The reporter found that there have been a large number of travel articles or videos punching in the "Longcaogou" on multiple social platforms, but many platforms have no danger warnings.
"Internet celebrity check-in place" has become a life-threatening place, should the recommended social platform be held responsible?
Flash floods swept away tourists in the river
There are clear signs and iron guardrails on both sides of the river
On the afternoon of August 13, a flash flood broke out in Longcaogou, Longmenshan Town, Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province.
Online video shows that at the time of the incident, there were many tents standing on both sides of the river, and many tourists were playing in the water.
The river is very shallow, and the water is full of stones, and the sudden flash flood swept away the unevacuated tourists in the river.
The local report said that the cause of the accident was the formation of convective clouds in the area in the afternoon, accompanied by short-term heavy rainfall, which triggered flash floods in the Longcaogou area and trapped the masses.
Relevant personnel of the Longmenshan Township government told the media that at 14:37 that day, after receiving the weather forecast of heavy rainfall, Longmenshan Town immediately organized forces to persuade tourists to leave.
After the mountain torrent disaster, the local organization organized a number of professional rescue forces and professional rescue equipment to carry out search and rescue work along the river.
A civilian rescue team in Pengzhou participated in the rescue. Liang Chuan, the person in charge of the rescue team, told reporters: "There were many protective measures and signs on the scene before, but now they have increased a lot, controlling the number of people who enter the scenic spot to play."
Liang Chuan told reporters that he was a native of Pengzhou and had been to the incident before.
He said that the site of the incident looked like a wild mountain ditch, which was an undeveloped scenic spot, but it was indeed a flood discharge channel. There were clear signs on both sides of the river channel and it was surrounded by iron guardrails, but tourists broke in.
It is normal for tourists to climb over the guardrail and enter the river
The river is recommended as a scenic spot by social platforms
Liang Chuan said that there were relevant staff at the scene to block tourists who climbed over the guardrail and entered the river.
"There's a lot of conflict going on to discourage this."
On weekdays, the river flow is mild and the river water is shallow, and there have not been too many accidents before.
Over time, it became the norm for tourists to climb over the guardrail and enter the river.
As early as last July, the local media had issued a reminder on its short video account that "the online celebrity check-in point is a hidden crisis", and the Longmenshan Town People's Government has also issued relevant reminders on its social platform account many times.
Despite this, the reporter found that on some social platforms, Longcao Valley was recommended as a niche for water play and camping, and it was also named as a "scenic spot".
Many netizens even posted content such as "Strategy" and "Travel Notes" on social media, sharing their experience of visiting Longcaogou.
In fact, Longcao ditch is a "wild" river, and it is a ditch that connects the mountains behind, and undertakes the task of flood discharge.
Expert: The platform side is obliged to give risk warnings
Lawyer: Liability of tourists poses willingness to risk
"What responsibility should the Internet platform bear in this incident?" has become a topic recently asked by netizens.
Zhang Zhian, a professor at the School of Journalism at Fudan University, believes that it is difficult for Internet platforms to track down all risky "Internet celebrity spots".
However, the platform side is obliged to provide proactive risk warnings for “Internet celebrity attractions”.
"For example, use algorithms to capture keywords in videos and comments, analyze the risks of relevant Internet celebrity attractions, warn users, or give some risk notices in the videos and texts of relevant attractions."
Wang Hui, a partner of Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that for tourist attractions that have not been developed commercially and have high risks, the information publishers on the social platform have the obligation to remind the risk, and the platform also has the obligation to remind the safety and review the content. There is tort liability.
"But in judicial practice, if the platform can promptly remove the corresponding information when it receives the relevant notification, it is generally considered that it has fulfilled its due obligations and will not be ordered to bear the corresponding responsibility."
However, according to Dou Dongchen of Beijing Dishi Law Firm, the responsibility of tourists in this incident constitutes a risk of self-willingness, that is, tourists voluntarily participate in certain activities even though they know that there are certain risks involved in participating in certain activities.
In this case, tourists generally have to bear the corresponding losses.
If there is a relevant organizer, the organizer should assume corresponding responsibilities.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, also said that the "Internet celebrities" who spread relevant posts on social platforms to attract more tourists to play here and platforms that continuously recommend more netizens to see this post through algorithms , should bear certain responsibility for the dissemination of illegal information.
However, it is also worth asking whether the scenic spot or the manager has fulfilled the corresponding security obligations.
Head Office Reporter/Guan Xin Jia Yichao