□ Liu Huan and Liu Zhiyue, reporters of this newspaper

□ Intern Yi Jiaxin

On May 5, in the Shiguan Scenic Area of Zhushan Town, Xuan'en County, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province, a black vehicle broke through the guardrail and fell into the water when passing the Wanghong Water Pontoon Bridge, causing widespread concern in the society.

On the night of the incident, the Information Office of Xuan'en County Government issued a notice saying that a commercial vehicle in Shiguan Scenic Area, Zhushan Town, Xuan'en County, fell into the water from a floating bridge, with 8 people on board, 3 escaped, and 5 people died after being searched and rescued ashore. At present, the scenic spot has been temporarily suspended, and the aftermath and accident investigation are being carried out in an orderly manner.

On the morning of May 5, a reporter from "Rule of Law Daily" dialed the phone number of Shiguan Scenic Area, and the scenic area staff said that they were fully cooperating with the police investigation and actively doing a good job in the aftermath, and the subsequent opening time will be notified separately.

The cause of the pontoon crash is still under investigation, but the reporter found that there are at least three major questions to be answered about the safety management of scenic spots.

Limit to seven seats or less, why nine seats are on the bridge

The floating bridge involved is called "Covered Bridge Dream", which is a key tourism project promoted by Shiguan Scenic Area.

According to the official website of the scenic spot, the water pontoon bridge is 400 meters long and 4.5 meters wide, which can accommodate 1,<> people walking on it at the same time.

During this year's May Day holiday, Mr. Shen, a citizen of Wuhan, Hubei Province, came to visit the Shiziguan Scenic Area. "The pontoon bridge is not charged separately, as long as you buy a ticket, you can drive around, and the traffic flow has always been not small." During peak play, the pontoon is full of vehicles, one next to the other, resulting in flooded bridge decks and difficult driving.

Before Mr. Shen drove across the bridge, he also noticed that there was a warning sign at the entrance of the pontoon, which said "The pontoon is restricted to vehicles with seven seats or less", "No wrong-way driving" and "Speed limit is 20 yards", and there was an automatic horn at the entrance to remind non-stop.

It is worth noting that the vehicle that crashed into the bridge was a nine-seater commercial vehicle.

Ms. Li is a native of Enshi and has visited the scenic spot. According to her recollection, before she drove onto the pontoon, the staff repeatedly stressed that the window must be opened and passed slowly during driving. Moreover, there are many speed bumps on the pontoon, there are relatively low guardrails on both sides, and there are signs on the side of the road that say "20 yards limit".

But she found on the pontoon that individual tourists drove fast on the bridge, which made her feel a little frightened, "how dare everyone drive so fast".

Ms. Li noticed that although there were scenic security personnel at the entrance of the pontoon, there was no manned rescue point in the middle of the pontoon at that time, and the exit of the pontoon was also unattended.

The online crash video shows that the black commercial vehicle brought layers of waves when passing the pontoon, and the vehicle had tire slipping during driving, and then broke through the guardrail and fell into the water.

Is it really safe to cross the pontoon bridge that claims to be able to cross tanks

The water pontoon bridge involved is also famous for "the most beautiful floating floating bridge in Hubei".

According to public information, a video platform account called "Shanghai Qihua Water Project" has posted a short video of "China's most beautiful Internet celebrity floating bridge Hubei Enshiguan Grand Canyon car special pontoon bridge (water depth 60 meters)".

According to the video, cars can float on the bridge: "When the car drives over this pontoon bridge created by locals to drive cars, it drives on a turquoise emerald river. The water ripples open the way, and the left and right railings move up and down in a wavy line, giving a magical feeling of traveling through time and space. ”

The reporter found that on the afternoon of May 5, the above video had been deleted. According to public information, Shanghai Qihua Water Engineering Construction Co., Ltd. is the builder of the pontoon bridge.

The reporter called the company to interview the pontoon safety issue, but the other party refused.

According to public information, in March this year, the person in charge of the Shiguan Scenic Area said in an interview with the media: "The pontoon bridge itself is German technology and used to cross tanks. Since it was put into use in 3, there have been no accidents. ”

However, there has always been a controversy about the safety of pontoon.

According to the official website of the Enshi Prefecture Government, in August 2019, when heavy rainfall occurred frequently, in order to ensure safety, the governments of Xuan'en County and Zhushan Town and relevant departments formed an inspection team to carry out a four-day safety inspection of the Shiguan Tourist Scenic Area and Chedongping Tourist Scenic Area in their jurisdiction. After carrying out an investigation of potential safety hazards in the Shiguan scenic area, the inspection team issued an order to rectify within a time limit. Among them, the scenic rafting safety facilities are not in place, the pontoon bridge has not been evaluated for safety, the rafting project is ordered to stop operating immediately, and the pontoon is immediately closed to vehicles.

Since the beginning of this year, the pontoon bridge has also adjusted the opening plan several times due to weather conditions.

On March 3 this year, the WeChat public account of Shiguan Scenic Area published an article saying that due to weather conditions, the water level in the scenic area dropped and all self-driving vehicles could not pass the pontoon. On April 7, the scenic area once again released an article saying that due to weather conditions, the water level in the scenic area rose, and the self-driving route for individual passengers was adjusted to "only run the pontoon loop".

Whether the rectification of hidden dangers is in place after the listing supervision

Due to major hidden dangers, the Lion Pass Scenic Area was once listed for supervision.

According to the official website of the Enshi Prefecture Emergency Management Agency, since 2019, the prefecture's Work Safety Commission has listed and supervised a number of major hidden dangers found in the statewide safety production supervision and inspection, and the Shiguan Scenic Area is one of them.

There are 5 major safety hazards and problems in this scenic spot: the pontoon bridge is not equipped with lifebuoys and other emergency equipment; The inspection of 4 battery sightseeing vehicles has expired; The water guardrail adjacent to the highway in the scenic area adopts wrought iron railing, and it is damaged; There are many pumice stones on the mountain wall next to the road in the scenic area; The 380V distribution cabinet is not separated from the ticket hall by fire.

In July 2020, Shiguan Scenic Area was rated as a national 7A tourist scenic spot. The WeChat public account of the scenic spot once posted that the Shiguan Scenic Area passed the landscape quality assessment in June 4, and after two years of rectification and creation, the environmental quality and service quality of the scenic spot have been greatly improved.

In April 2021, the Office of the Enshi Prefecture Work Safety Commission issued a notice that the Enshi Prefecture Safety Commission Office conducted spot checks and acceptances of some hidden dangers, and according to the acceptance situation, it decided to cancel a number of major hidden dangers listed for supervision, among which the Shiguan Scenic Area was included in the list of sales numbers. On April 4 of the same year, the Shiguan Scenic Area was closed to upgrade the scenic area, and reopened a week later.

On April 4 this year, the vice governor of Enshi Prefecture led a team to conduct a special equipment safety inspection in the Shiguan scenic spot, urged and guided enterprises to improve management and maintenance work, required enterprises to enhance their awareness of special equipment safety responsibility, actively carried out hidden danger self-inspection and investigation work, and put an end to safety accidents.

The security check did not go far, and tragedy struck. (Source: Rule of Law Daily)