On September 18, a passenger ship overturned in the Zangzhang River, Liuzhi Special Zone, Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province. The passengers on the ship were mainly students from Zangzhang Town. Mr. Zhao, the first villager who discovered the accident, said that he had a small boat for seven or eight people, so he drove the boat to the site of the accident and rescued nine students.
Mr. Zhao, a 56-year-old villager in Xiling Village, Zangdan Town, was also the first person to discover a ship capsize.
According to Mr. Zhao's recollection, he built a colored steel tile shed on the riverside, which he usually rented out to fishing enthusiasts. On the 18th, strong winds blew the area, and the big tree next to my house was uprooted. At 17:14 that day, he saw that the fishing shed was missing from the upper floor of his home. When he went to the riverside to look for it, he found a boat tipped over in the middle of the river.
Mr. Zhao said that he had a small boat that could take seven or eight people, so he immediately got on the boat and sailed to the vicinity of the ship where the incident occurred, and found several children crying on the side of the boat. In the next twenty minutes or so, he used a rope to drag the nine children onto his boat.
"These children looked like they were fourteen or five years old. I was very anxious and rescued all the (children) I could see." Mr. Zhao said that there were still some children trapped in the boat at that time. After the child was rescued ashore, he called the rescue call.
A few minutes later, rescuers rushed from the township to the scene of the incident, broke the cabin glass and rescued several children, some of whom had vital signs after being rescued and were sent to the hospital for treatment.
According to Mr. Zhao, the ship came from the Maritime Wharf and headed towards Lujia Village, Zangtang Town, along the Beipan River. If you take this road by water, it only takes one hour at most to get there, which is two hours faster than the highway. Therefore, passenger ships have become the main means of transportation for students. At present, Mr. Zhao is still paying attention to the rescue situation on the spot.
According to previous news from the Propaganda Department of the Liupanshui Municipal Party Committee, the passenger ship is a type 8015 passenger ship of Xiling Shipping Company (private enterprise), which carries 40 people. There was an overload problem at the time of the accident. The passengers on the ship were mainly students from the town of Mt. Due to the wide waters of the Zang Dan River, passenger ships are the main means of transportation for students along the river in Zang Dan Town. It is understood that the passenger ship encountered sudden strong convective weather during its voyage. Analysis by the local meteorological department showed that on the evening of September 18 thunderstorms occurred in Mangdan Town, Liuzhi Special Zone, with local wind speeds reaching 6 levels.
According to previous news from the “Weiliangdu”, after the accident, the public security, transportation, emergency, and health departments of the provinces, cities and counties organized a total of 17 rescue teams, dispatched 839 people, 50 ships, 28 professional divers, and 3 underwater rescue teams. Robots and 4 drones conduct search and rescue operations.
As of 11 o'clock on September 19, a total of 40 people were searched and rescued at the scene, 31 of whom were safe, and 9 died. After investigation, 6 people were still missing. Passenger ship driver Yang XX died in the accident. Cause of the accident is under further investigation.