Chinanews.com, Yuncheng, January 23, title: Tourists drowning in the Sanmenxia section of the Yellow River: Shanxi crew drove 4 tourists ashore in a rubber boat

  Chinanews reporter Lu Qiguo

  At noon on January 23, Liu Yinqiang put some wet clothes on the wire in front of the duty room to dry.

  The Yuezhuang Ferry in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province, where Liu Yinqiang lives, is diagonally opposite to Qiligou, Lijiapo Village, Gaomiao Township, Gaomiao Township, Hubin District, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, where the tourist drowning incident occurred on the afternoon of the 22nd.

  The Emergency Management Bureau of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province reported that 10 tourists were rescued in the drowning incident, and 2 of them died after the rescue failed; 7 people could not be contacted.

  On the day of the incident, Xu Peng and Zhao Zhanwei, who were on duty at Yuezhuang Ferry, used rubber boats to drag the four drowning women to the shore, and then successfully rescued the four with the cooperation of their colleague Liu Yinqiang.

Rescue rubber boat throttle to the maximum

  Qiligou is located about 1 km downstream of the Sanmenxia Water Conservancy Project on the Yellow River. It is a "net celebrity check-in place" that has emerged in recent years.

Yuezhuang Ferry, Pinglu County, Shanxi Province is located on the downstream side diagonally opposite.

  At 14:00 on the 22nd, Xu Peng arrived at work ahead of schedule according to the holiday schedule.

Standing in front of the office, he can clearly see the situation of Qiligou on the opposite side: there are many cars parked on the road and many tourists in the river.

"At that time, the water surface in the river was narrow, the water level was low, and many rocks were exposed. Some tourists stood in the river to play."

  About an hour later, Zhao Zhanwei, a worker at Yuezhuang Wharf, suddenly discovered that the water level of the Yellow River was rising, and the rising speed was relatively fast.

At this time, he saw that there were already tourists trapped in Qiligou.

  "The water is rising, there are tourists falling into the water on the other side of the river!" Hearing Zhao Zhanwei's shout, Xu Peng's first reaction was to save people.

He rushed out of the duty room and ran quickly to the ship moored at the pier.

  "I am the captain, and I know that our ship has a motorized rubber boat for emergency use." Xu Peng told reporters from Chinanews.com that water rescue emphasizes the word "fast". Merison still hopes.

"Inflatable boats sailed fast. At that time, using rubber boats to save people was the best choice."

  Together with Zhao Zhanwei, Xu Peng lowered the rubber boat from the ship, started the engine of the rubber boat, and drove towards the scene of the incident diagonally opposite.

"As soon as (the rubber boat) started, I put the accelerator on the maximum and went full speed."

Liu Yinqiang hangs the clothes of rescued drowning people to dry.

Photo courtesy of Yuezhuang Ferry

4 drowning tourists rescued by dinghies

  Xu Peng and Zhao Zhanwei first discovered three drowning people, a mother and two daughters.

At that time, the mother and daughter hugged each other and struggled hard on the water.

"I saw them yelling at me from a distance, but I couldn't hear what they were yelling because of the loud motor of the rubber boat," Xu Peng said.

  When the rubber boat was about 10 meters away from the mother and daughter, Xu Peng released the accelerator.

As the dinghy slowed and the roar of the engine died down, he heard the drowning mother's repeated cries of "help."

  "Thanks to the fact that they are all wearing down jackets, which gave us precious time for rescue." Xu Peng introduced that the mother and daughter were all wearing down jackets. When they first drowned, it was difficult for water to penetrate into the down jackets at once. It can temporarily float on the water without swimming.

  When the mother and daughter tightly grasped the hull of the inflatable boat with their hands, the amount of water in their down jackets continued to increase. In addition, they were unable to climb onto the inflatable boat by themselves due to severe physical exhaustion.

  "No matter how hard Zhao Zhanwei exerted himself, he couldn't pull anyone up. I also stretched out a hand to help, but I still couldn't pull up." Xu Peng recalled that although the mother and daughter could not get on the rubber boat, they clung to the boat tightly. It's safe for now.

  At this time, Xu Peng turned his head inadvertently and found another woman in a down jacket floating near the rubber boat.

"I threw a rope over and yelled at her to hold on to the rope, don't panic." Under Xu Peng's guidance, the drowning woman firmly grasped the rope and was pulled to the side of the rubber boat.

However, he was also unable to pull the woman onto the rubber boat.

  "Zhan Wei, it seems that their physical strength is exhausted, and now we can only drag them back to the shore like this." Xu Peng, who has been engaged in shipping for more than 20 years, has rich experience in rescue.

He believes that the bodies of the four drowning people lost their temperature rapidly, and the consciousness of three of them has become blurred.

  It was not an easy task to drag the four women to the shore in a rubber boat.

In order to prevent the drowning person from letting go of the rubber boat while advancing, Xu Peng and Zhao Zhanwei specially added an "insurance".

"I operated the steering wheel with one hand, and grabbed the drowning woman who was finally rescued with the other hand; Zhao Zhanwei was even more difficult. He was holding a drowning man with each hand, and he was biting the clothes of another drowning man with his teeth. .”

  "At that time, I was really anxious, and there was really nothing I could do, so I lay down on the rubber boat and dragged and bit them." Zhao Zhanwei said that he had no time to think about the effect of biting the clothes of the drowning person with his teeth, but he I believe that "the insurance factor will definitely be higher" in this way.

  "Hold on, hold on, hold on (the boat body), and don't let go." During the docking process, Xu Peng slowed down the speed of the rubber boat to prevent the water splash caused by the rubber boat from choking the four drowning people again. .

  When the rubber boat docked, Liu Yinqiang, the crew member, had already been waiting here.

He fastened the rubber boat, and then worked together with Xu Peng and Zhao Zhanwei to rescue the four drowning persons one by one.

The crew tried everything possible to keep the rescued tourists warm

  The three rescued mother and daughter were sent to the staff dormitory at Yuezhuang Ferry, where there were quilts, electric blankets, and the air conditioner was turned to the highest temperature.

  "The two daughters are unconscious but not life-threatening, and the mother can still move on her own. She borrowed Zhao Zhanwei's mobile phone and notified her family of the rescue information as soon as possible." Xu Peng said, Zhao Zhanwei brought her a cup of hot water, and she was covered with Shaking violently, unable to hold the water glass steady.

In order to keep the four rescued drowning persons warm, all the equipment available for heating at Yuezhuang Ferry was used.

  Another rescued woman was sent to the ferry stove in Yuezhuang, because there was a large stove with "two eyes" and electric blankets available.

  The water-soaked clothes of the four drowning victims were quickly changed.

Shortly after they were rescued, they were taken by ambulance to the People's Hospital of Pinglu County.

  At 16:00 on the 23rd, the relatives of the rescued mother and daughter made a special trip to Yuezhuang Ferry in Pinglu County to express their sincere gratitude and took away the belongings of the rescued mother and daughter.

Their relatives said that the vital signs of the mother and daughter are all stable.

  "I am very relieved to hear this news," Xu Peng said.

  In the summer of 2022, people were trapped in the Qiligou section of the Yellow River due to rising water levels.

At that time, Xu Peng and Chief Engineer Jing Zeming cooperated to rescue two adult drowning persons.

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