Daqing's 53rd round of shipwrecks recorded the bravery, cowardice, selfishness and fear of death of the crew at the time of the explosion

Daqing 53 was killed

I graduated from Dalian Maritime College in July 1982, before graduation on May 5, 1982, Liao Guoxing, a classmate of the 786 district team, exploded and sank in the "Daqing 53" oil tanker where the graduation internship was located, Liao Guoxing died in the accident, and our classmates basically retired, mr. Wang, a surviving classmate in this accident, recalled the 53rd shipwreck of Daqing, recording the bravery, cowardice, selfishness, fear of death of the crew who encountered the accident, the chaos of ship management, forward this real adventure, In commemoration of the students who were killed, safety management is very important in all areas of society, and safety is very important to each of us.

(This article is based on oral accounts of people who witnessed the shipwreck and published in the February 2010 issue of SeaWorld magazine.

On May 5, 1982, when the 17,000-ton "Daqing 53" oil tanker ended its last voyage with its full of vicissitudes and explosions, as an intern of the Maritime Academy, my classmates and I experienced a test of life and death, and the heart full of longing and love for the sailing career also entered a silent cold with the slow sinking of the hull.

After many years, I always want to be mentioned: shipwrecks------ this is a pain that I can never bear to touch in my sailing career.

Speaking of the "Daqing 53" shipwreck, I was on that boat. Our navigation department has me, Lao Guo, Xiao Miao, and seven intern students in the marine department, including Xiao Zhu, Xiao Zhang, Xiao Wang, and Xiao Zhao.

It was a may full of life, the early morning of the East China Sea, the spring breeze spread out, wrapped around the whole body, like the mother's gentle and peaceful breeze, but also with a strong spring breath. The rising sun sprinkled on the blue waves turned into countless jumping golden rays, and a group of seagulls quickly swept across the quiet sky to the blue sky with white clouds, and a few sail shadows on the blue sea loomed in the thin morning light. The sea with all kinds of charms is nothing less than an idyllic and harmonious picture. Daqing "53" sailed at full speed in the sea south of Rongcheng Stone Island in Shandong Province, ------ this picture scroll. The main engine of 10,000 horsepower emitted a low and majestic roar, the bow of the ship cut open the calm sea, the hull of the boat was like a net of fishing shuttles through the waves, and the huge paddles of the stern stirred the blue water into white waves, leaving a long, silvery track, which was like a silver dragon floating on the surface of the sea. I stood outside the helm, inhaling the wet and slightly fishy sea breeze, thinking that I would become a real sailor, to experience the legendary and thrilling life that belonged only to men, and my heart was full of infinite passion.

On the morning of May 5th, I was on duty for 4-8 flights, and when the ship continued to sail 24 hours a day, each of the three drivers was worth an 8-hour driving shift. The big payment is 4-8 o'clock in the morning. 16-20 pm. Two pay 0-4 pips. 12-16 pm. Three pay 8-12 o'clock in the morning. 20-0pm. Usually, when the shift is handed over, the successor is on the driver's platform 15 minutes early. Look at the charts, familiarize yourself with the surface of the sea and the boat, and then take over. We also practice with one pilot per person according to the work regulations on the ship. During that time, I followed the big pay class and the three pay class followed by Xiao Miao. Xiao Miao came up on time at 7:45 that day, Xiao Miao is a peasant student from the Yangtze River, there is an almost fanatical pursuit of knowledge and profession, and he is the most excited and devoted to the ship internship. I often saw him clinging to the railings of his ships, staring at the sea with a pious and fervent gaze for a long time, like a child's longing for his mother. Maybe it was a good graduate school exam a few days ago, these days he is always smiling and actively preparing for the graduation thesis. He and I said something about the transfer of shifts and looked up at the sky and said, "The weather is good today, you can practice measuring the positioning." When he said this, his whole body was immersed in the golden morning sun, and his clear eyes shone brightly, and his body was full of compelling youthful vitality.

I patted him on the sturdy shoulder, said "Practice well," and left the driver's seat. I would never have imagined that this would be the last thing this fellow window had said to me, who had been together for more than three years.

After handing over the class, I went back to my room to prepare my internship thesis. At 10:30, I heard a loud noise. I rushed out of the room to see that the ship's building in front of me was smoking. Tankers are generally divided into two buildings, the front of the ship building from top to bottom is the steering platform, communication room, and conference room, the cadre crew and the deck crew living area, the back of the ship building is the restaurant, the engine room and the engine department, the business department crew living area. Our interns live in the back building. After the first explosion, the driver's station on the top floor of the front building was gone. At this time, the ship was still rushing forward at full speed of three forwards.

Less than three minutes after the first explosion, the second explosion occurred in the stunned eyes of the people, and after the smoke passed, the front ship tower was more than ten meters high, and the main mast was completely gone, only the billowing smoke and flames were displayed in front of people's eyes. The boat stalled, jittered, tilted, sank. Everyone was in a panic. The crew who were still alive instinctively sought out life jackets, life rings, and gathered on the back deck that was still floating on the water. There are a lot of people who don't have life jackets yet.

When I rushed out of the room, I knew that there was no life jacket in the room where I lived, and there was no life jacket in the side of the ship, when the second chef wore a life jacket and rushed out of the corridor with two life jackets, and as soon as he came out, a life jacket was snatched up by a person and put on.

I asked him, "Can you give me this one?" ”

Who knows, he shook his head and said, "I have promised it to someone else." But before he could finish speaking, another man snatched the life jacket away.

I turned around and saw the waiter standing next to me crying, we had lived and worked on the ship for more than two months, and we were familiar with the crew, and I knew that the waiter was a shipping bureau that had replaced my father, who had no training as a seaman, who could not swim, and who did not wear a life jacket. I asked him where his life jacket was? He sobbed and sobbed in his room, but a man did not dare to go back to the room on the ground floor. As soon as I thought that if I accompanied him to the room to get it, maybe I could find a life jacket on the way, I pulled him down to the lower cabin, along the way I did not see a life jacket, entered the room the waiter held the life jacket tightly in his arms, in the faint emergency light, his eyes emitted a strange light. I immediately understood: he was afraid that the two of them would take this life jacket, and if I had evil thoughts about this life-saving life-

I calmed down and told him to follow me up to the deck, and when I got up to deck I said to him, "Don't be nervous! With a life jacket you will definitely live, it doesn't matter, don't be afraid. "I helped him put on his life jacket, and I wore it again.

According to the manufacturing regulations of the sea vessel life jacket, the upper part of the life jacket should be a soft and elastic neck cover, and its main role is to support the neck of the person to protect the back of the head and lose less temperature. This role is very bitter to say, during World War II, the SS devil doctor Mendler in order to measure the main temperature loss of people in the low temperature and the impact of the rate of temperature loss on human life, the Soviet prisoners of war in the ice bucket for experiments, according to different temperatures and times of the subject of the loss of life records to analyze what most affected people's survival. After doing many experiments and killing dozens of prisoners of war, he found that a physically strong, strong-willed man had less than twenty minutes of consciousness in the water below zero degrees, and could maintain forty minutes of consciousness from zero to ten degrees. The most critical thing in insulation is the lower back of the human brain, here is the person's cerebellum, if this part is warmed well, people can remain awake, awake plus appropriate activities of hands and feet to maintain blood flow can persist for twice as long, and this part of the temperature loss fast, people lose consciousness For a short time, people lose consciousness quickly, and people who lose consciousness will die quickly. The conclusion is that most people in the cold sea water are not drowned by the water but frozen unconscious, and then frozen to death. The Nazi doctors concluded that the lives of Soviet prisoners of war were used, but they also provided valuable information. Therefore, the most critical part of the sea life jacket is the neck ring!

The life jacket on this boat is a neckless type used in general fresh water.

I don't have time to think about it, while helping the waiter dress, I told him what to pay attention to in the water: before the rescue chest and back are four pieces of cork wrapped in canvas, this cork is very special, it can still keep a person weighing seventy kilograms on the water after soaking through the sea, it will not lose buoyancy for more than ten hours, but the clothes rope of the front chest should be tied into a dead buckle, and when the ship sinks, it will produce a huge whirlpool, and you jump into the water and use everything you can to swim far, even if you do not swim out of the whirlpool area, the life jacket with the dead knot will lift you out of the water with buoyancy.

The life jacket was put on, and I encouraged the waiter: "Let's get into the water!" You'll live out. The waiter looked at me, turned his head and bravely jumped into the water.

At this time, Xiao Zhao ti, a classmate of the Marine Department, rushed out of the corridor with these two life jackets, and I just saw that he was still on the deck, so why did he rush back to the lower room?

Xiao Zhao shouted, "Quick! Who doesn't have a life jacket yet, I just ran back to the bottom and found it. ”

Soon, two life jackets were put on the two crew members again, and only then did Xiao Zhang, a classmate in the cabin, come out of the cabin, and Xiao Zhao asked him: "Are you dizzy?" Just came out."

"I was ordered to withdraw from the cabin!" Xiao Zhang answered calmly.

This kid? The intern is not in charge of the crew, how can you be so deadly? The people gathered on the back deck were chaotic, not knowing what to do next, Xiao Zhang and I ran to release the lifeboat. The boat was lowered, but only one of the two hooks was taken off, and the other hook could not be removed. We ran to put the life raft again.

Since the tragic Incident of the Titanic, the International Maritime Association has stipulated that every sailing vessel must be equipped with life-saving equipment on a double principle. That is to say, if a ship has a quota crew of 40, it must be equipped with more than two lifeboats, one on one side of the ship, each boat with a crew of at least 40 people, a life raft on the bow, two on each side of the bow, and the total number must be at least 80 people. In addition, there must be no less than 80 life jackets on board, which are stored in the work site, crew room, public living area, so that anyone can have a life jacket to use in the event of an accident. These life-saving equipment should be inspected regularly on board, maintained, and repaired and replaced immediately if there is any non-conformity. This work was carried out by the three vice-captains under the supervision of the captain.' Every week the captain shall organize the whole ship to carry out lifesaving. Elimination drills and lectures to enable the crew to carry out rescue and self-rescue in an organized manner in the event of an accident.

The lifeboat is made of fiberglass, which is heat-proof, has good anti-sinking, and retains a certain buoyancy when the boat is full of water, ensuring the life of all the occupants. The boat is equipped with motors, oars, masts, sails, guaranteed machine power, hand power. Wind power. Fishing gear, fresh water, compressed dry food, medicines and other items are available to ensure that the occupants need to survive for at least seven days. There are also shower oil, nautical watches, life-saving signal rockets and other navigational equipment. It can be said that as long as a lifeboat is put down, there is hope for the survival of the whole ship. Lifeboats are usually hung on the frame and fixed with steel cables. When used, just pull the steel lock puller boat and it will fall automatically. After falling to the surface, the crew slid into the boat along the rope on the frame, removed the hook at the moment of floating on the boat, and started the motor to control the boat. But this operation should be done quickly, and if the big ship is tilted badly, the hook may not be removed.

After we got on the 53rd round of Daqing, the ship did not seem to pay attention to life saving and fire drills, at this time, due to the explosion of the helm platform, the captain was no longer there, and no one else from the other living cadres and crew stood up to organize. After the lifeboat was put on the surface, it lost the precious time to pick the hook and could not be used because of the untimely operation, and the lifeboat on the other side was even less hopeful because of the tilt of the hull and the high cocking to the sky.

Lifeboats were not working, and there were life rafts. The front of the ship was no longer full of people, so we put down a raft in the stern. The raft was put down. The life raft equipped with the cargo ship according to the standard, the appearance is a long oval fruccose shell, usually tied to the shelf with a steel cable, when used as long as the steel cable is untied, pull the opening rope, the raft will fall into the water automatically rise and open, the bottom of the raft is an oval rubber boat, the upper part has a canopy, which is equipped with fresh water, compressed dry food, oars and other life-saving supplies. Sometimes the raft will fall into the water and the canopy will be facing down, but it doesn't matter, just grab the belt on the raft and turn it over. We encountered this situation, but when Xiao Zhang and Xiao Zhang jumped into the water and grabbed the belt and flipped the raft hard, the belt broke. The bottom of the raft is facing upwards. If the canopy is facing upwards. This raft can accommodate more than twenty people, but the bottom is facing upwards, and only a few people can be accommodated.

Xiao Zhang and Xiao Zhang couldn't turn over the raft, so they could only push the older ones onto the raft first, and tell the young ones to grab the belt on the edge of the raft and swim desperately. Because we know that when such a 17,000-ton ship sinks, it will create a huge whirlpool. Not far away from it is very likely to be sucked down.

The 170-meter-long ship has only the stern part still floating on the water. In a shipwreck, unless the cabin of the stern explodes, whether the bow goes down first or breaks from the stern, most of the stern does not go down. People who can swim and are a little bolder jump into the water. A few who could not stand on the wreckage of the boat and cried only. An enginer without a life jacket stood on the side of the ship watching the sea with his eyes straight, and the person next to him who knew he could not swim told him not to jump, but he did not seem to hear, jumped into the water, but did not float up. Three other men who could not use water and no life jacket simply stopped jumping, and they gathered around the flagpole at the stern, ready to go down with the boat.

There are many taboos in the crew, such as the crew never say "sink" but only say it, when eating fish, after eating the fish, you can't turn over the fish, but pick the main thorn to eat the fish meat on the other side.

Xiao Wang had already put on his life jacket and jumped into the water, and the waiter who could not drink floated beside him, struggling to hold out his hand to him, and he encouraged him: "Don't be afraid! I am trained in the sea academy. As long as you listen to me, it will be fine. The injured first mate and the captain of the sailors also drifted over, and Xiao Wang told them to grab the life jackets of the people in front of them one by one, and the four of them swam hard in the water like a tugboat with three unpowered boats.

In our Maritime College Maritime Major, there is a course that must be passed, otherwise the other courses will not be issued a graduation certificate even if the door is 100 points, that is, it can jump from a five-meter high platform and can swim more than 200 meters in deep water. Some students who are not good at swimming in order to pass the class many times soak in the pool to practice, and in the end, it is not good, the teacher will take the report card and say:

"Don't try to mix! You can't become a seafarer if you can't get through this door. "It must not be strictly passed.

Although we are all good swimmers, but in the Yellow Sea in May, the water temperature is only eight degrees, dragging three people who will not be water, although there are life jackets to support, Xiao Wang swims very difficult, usually hundreds of meters do not say anything at all, at this time each meter forward more than a meter to pay a huge physical strength, bitter cold sea water into the mouth, spit out and into another bite, Xiao Wang swam more than a hundred meters and finally swam to the life raft and we will meet. Later he told me:

"There is only one thought, one meter more swimming is one meter, as long as we can get together."

Xiao Wang swam to the raft is exhausted, and the burned mate must be on the raft, on the side of the frozen face of Xiao Zhu plunged into the water with the head of the first mate's body to push him to the raft, Xiao Zhu This guy usually flirts in school, even the American female foreign teacher dares to bubble, but this will not be bad at all, he desperately choked on the first mate himself several mouthfuls of water to check the point did not show the water.

It was hard to swim out of the whirlpool area and float on the sea, the living people gathered together, and the gusts of cold hit us again. The explosion happened so suddenly that not even the emergency distress signal SOS was sent. The big boats in the past are not sure when they will be available, and this season is not fishing news, and there will not be too many fishing boats. We only try to maintain body temperature according to the principle of lifesaving.

People who are not injured are fine, but a few injured people are not ok. Erfu, an old seafarer in his fifties, was burned at the time of the explosion and was placed by his colleagues on a wooden mowing plate that had originally placed cables on the ship, and he gradually failed under the blows of the cold wind, the sea blisters, and the bleeding. We desperately shouted his name, the only way to arouse his last strength, to hold on for a while, but his breathing became weaker and weaker, and finally he tilted his head and went into the arms of his companions.

Fear, panic, and cold surround us, and only the tail of the big ship is tilted to the sky, and soon, she will leave us, will we not soon go to meet her on that dark and cold seabed?

We can't lose faith, we call out to each other, we talk, we hope to exchange confidence with each other, and we can use the power of faith to persevere.

I remember reading a report: an old sailor and a journalist in the South Pacific sailing sailing, the sailboat was overturned, the two climbed to a life raft, 72 days later, the passing ship rescued the journalist, and the old sailor is gone, the reason the reporter survived is that he never gave up confidence, firmly believe that someone will save him!

Now the big ship is gone, we are floating in this cold sea water, the cold sea water needle-like sting mixed up and down, constantly taking away our body temperature, hands and feet began to have consciousness, can paddle from time to time to move the activity, slowly needle-like consciousness is gone, hands and feet began to not listen to the call, the body is just instinctively struggling and twisting in the water.

The reality is merciless, right in front of my eyes, a crew member's face from frozen blue to white, gradually the hands and feet do not move, no matter how we shout, their eyes begin to scatter, the open mouth can no longer answer our shouts, the lips are moving but can not say a word, maybe they want to leave a little last word, maybe they also want to spell out the last physical strength to pursue survival, but there is no word, no physical strength, finally their bodies floated to the surface, facing the sky, the open eyes can not be closed, no light to the sky. Some eyes also shed two lines of tears at the last moment, that is, the last drop of life, the last petal of flowers.

Their bodies floated beside me, the cold of life was more cold than the sea that stimulated my heart, I looked up at the sky, the white clouds in the blue sky were slowly floating, how I wanted a cloud to descend from the sky to support me, to float out of the abyss that would take away my young life, to return to the happy land, back to my home, back to my mother's side, back to the fiery campus, where there is love, vitality, and fiery life. I don't know how much time has passed, I gradually can't support it, my hands and feet began to not listen to the call, desperately inhaling on my back but breathing more and more short, my eyes were chaotic, I knew that this was the beginning of unconsciousness, I wanted to fight but became weaker and weaker. Could this be the end of my 22-year-old life? Is this the end of my career as a seafarer? Is that the end of my hard work? No! I cried from within! never! I want to burn the cold sea with the flame of life, and I want to fight death with my strong will!

Heaven forbid! We heard the sound of the fishing boats, and we tried to turn our numb heads in the direction of the fishing boats, and a pair of machine sailboats were coming towards us one after the other. Approaching I saw the name of the ship at the bow: Long Sea 6245. It was the fisherman's big brother in Changhai County, Liaoning Province, who rescued us.

It was later learned that their pair of trawlers, 6245, 6246, were 10 nautical miles south of us at the time (1 nautical mile equals 1. 852 km) of sea surface trawling. I heard an explosion and saw the black smoke of my ship. The chief captain Wang Yongchen immediately ordered: "There is an accident on a big ship. Cut the fishing net! The ship turns, pay the boat to keep up! full! Save. ”

The net worth tens of thousands of dollars was discarded, and they drove the maximum speed of the fishing boat: 10 nautical miles per hour, desperately coming to us. Captain Wang knew that a few hours ago, the weather reported that there would soon be a northerly wind of seven or eight levels passing through this sea area, and he wanted to catch some wind fish before the wind, but this would become rushing to save people before the wind!

Thanks to these fishermen big brothers. When they arrived, they took the risk of the whirlpool area and drove to the large stern of the ship, which was still a few square meters exposed to the water, rescued the three crew members who had not dived, and then turned around and pulled us onto their boat. Take out everything that can keep warm on the boat to wrap us, quilts, blankets are not enough, they take off their clothes for us, while their bare bodies are frozen purple in the cold wind, in order to drive away the cold, the fishermen's big brothers gulped down the liquor, jumped into the water again and again to save people and fish for the remains.

I was drowned when I was pulled onto the boat by the fisherman's big brother, lying on the deck only to watch the fishermen's brothers save people.

At this time, a crew member we called him "black skin" on the boat was pulled on the boat by the fishermen, and the fishermen's big brother had to fish for the living people on the surface of the water and fished for the remains of the crew members who had gone, and he couldn't be busy anymore, so he asked "Black Skin" to climb into the cabin by himself, and "Black Skin" struggled to stand up, but he then fell on his back and never came back.

I rested for a while and felt that I still had strength, so I got up and helped to do something that could help, Xiao Zhang and Xiao Zhao held the mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration of the almost out-of-breath crew, and they did four people together, and one of them eased up at that time.

The naval ships that came from Ishijima also arrived, and everyone searched the sea over and over again for the living and the remains, and two hours passed. People who were alive on the surface of the sea were on fishing boats. The remains of the victims floating on the surface of the sea were also fished. A little bit of people. We should have had 49 people. Only 29 live ones are available on board. 11 bodies. I had already discovered that Xiao Miao was not among us. Thinking of the person on the wheelstand not seeing one, I knew he couldn't come back.

"Daqing 53" has long sunk to the bottom of the sea, and there is nothing else on the surface of the sea except for the floating pieces of oil.

Back at the College, we were given a grand welcome and commendation meeting organizationally.

Half a year later, the other five classmates all got on the ocean boat, I froze my eyes in cold water, my eyesight was not good enough to be assigned to the organ, and after I arrived at the post, the organization first sent me to the dispatching room of the Shipping Bureau for internship. One day after work, I just got out of the gate and a man stopped me.

"Do you still know me?" he asked

"How come you don't know?" Aren't you the second chef of Daqing 53? "I was overjoyed.

"Go, I've been waiting for you for two days, come to my house for a drink," he said without saying that he would pull me up and leave.

When I got to his house, where his wife had cooked a large table of dishes and had a few drinks, he suddenly asked me

"Remember then?" I didn't give you that life jacket? He said to me a little guiltily.

"Didn't you see me later that I didn't have a life jacket and hugged a piece of wood for me, or I might have finished without that wood," I remembered.

"Yes, I regret it as soon as you turn around and leave, when a life jacket is the hope of a person's life!" Although I later found a piece of wood for you after I launched the water, when I couldn't hold on, you pushed me onto the life raft again, and if I was still soaking in the water, I might not be able to wait for the fishing boat to come. “

"That means we've both survived each other's life-and-death struggles," we both laughed. "Why do you say that your students didn't know to be afraid at that time and did so well one by one?" He asked me thoughtfully.

"I think it's good to train in school, know what to do, and be bold. And there is spiritual support. Again, I think we are young and vigorous, bare sticks, not so much after thinking about it, unlike you, there are wives and children, old age, and physical fitness is not good. "Makes sense!" He agreed. "By the way, has the cause of the accident been clarified?" I asked him. "It was found out that the engine room was illegally burned and welded, and Mars ran along the pipeline to the front and caused an explosion, if we were full of crude oil at that time and did not explode, but the empty cabin was full of oil and gas, it was a big bomb, and once it exploded, half of the ship was gone." Those responsible for who are still alive have been given suspended sentences. But where are the brothers who have lost? “

Yes! The illegal operation, two explosions, the captain, the telegrapher, Xiao Miao eight people did not even find the remains. Was the chaotic management of the life-saving equipment the cause of the other twelve lives? If they have life jackets, if the lifeboat can be used, the life raft can be frontally up, and someone comes forward to organize an orderly lifesaver, they will not freeze to death, and they may be able to survive?

Yes, the people responsible for the ship alive were sentenced. The verdict of the law is perhaps the best account for the outcome of the accident. Xiao Miao, on the other hand, took his dream with him for unknown reasons and without seeing the results. Before leaving, did he feel like he was thrown into his mother's arms?

In my mind, I often overlap such a picture: in the clear light of heaven and earth, a youthful face painted with sunshine, and the figure of the sea reflected in the eyes of simple excitement...

(This article is based on oral accounts of people who witnessed the shipwreck and published in SeaWorld magazine in 2010, h h1.) February Issue)