On the afternoon of April 13, when the boat reached the middle of the river, Yueyue, a native of Qinhuangdao, saw another boat overturned on its side in the river.
"[There were] three victims lying on the boat. She told Nanfeng that when her boat turned around, she saw two more victims.
She saw that none of the people on the boat were wearing life jackets.
The boat that Yueyue saw overturned on its side in the Qinglong River next to Taolinkou Village, Lulong County, Qinhuangdao City.
According to CCTV news, at around 14:30 on April 13, a boat overturned in Taolinkou Village, Liujiaying Township, Lulong County, Qinhuangdao City, causing people to fall into the water. The accident caused 31 tourists to fall into the water, of which 12 died after rescue efforts failed, 10 were treated in the hospital without life-threatening injuries, and 9 people have returned home safely.
Lulong County People's Government Briefing/Source: Lulong County People's Government official website
According to the China Emergency Management News, the boat involved in the incident was an illegally modified "black pleasure boat", at about 14:30 pm on the 13th, it overturned in the downstream river of Taolinkou Reservoir due to windy weather, and the people who fell into the water were tourists, most of whom were elderly and did not wear life jackets.
After the accident, Hebei Province set up an accident investigation team to investigate and determine the cause, nature and responsibility of the accident. The Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection has also launched relevant accountability work.
After a preliminary investigation, on April 13, 155 tourists from Tangshan City took three buses organized by a travel agency to have lunch near Taolinkou Village, and 31 of them went to the waters of the Qinglong River downstream of the Taolinkou Reservoir and overturned and fell into the water while taking an illegally operated sightseeing boat.
At present, the shipowner and relevant responsible personnel have been controlled by the public security organs.
Eating on a ship, "scared"
Xiao An is from Tangshan like the 31 people who capsized the boat, but she is luckier than all of them.
On the morning of April 13, Xiao An followed the tour group to Taolinkou Reservoir. This group costs 78 yuan per person, and it comes by bus from Tangshan, including a meal, plus a boat ride. Xiao An said that the composition of the regiment was the same as that of the ship where the incident occurred - mainly elderly people.
At about 9:40 a.m. on the 13th, they got on the boat, and at about 10 o'clock, the boat went to the shore of the reservoir dam, and the tour guide asked them to get off the boat and take pictures. At about 11 o'clock, get on the boat again.
Xiao An said that she was afraid of water, and when she boarded the boat and saw that there was no life jacket, she also said it. But when I saw that the other people on the boat were not wearing them, and I saw that the water didn't seem to be too deep, I didn't pay much attention to it.
Other tourists took screenshots of the video, and the people on the boat were not wearing life jackets, and they were having dinner on the boat/Source: Red Star News
As she drove in a boat down the river, she saw that most of the boats on the water were elderly. Everyone sat on the plastic stools on the boat, and some people were in a good mood and held up their mobile phones to take videos and take pictures. Xiao An also took a video at that time and posted it on the short video platform.
When she returned in the afternoon, she heard that a boat had capsized, and in the comment area of the video she posted, many people were asking if it was the boat.
Ann replied, "We're all good and lucky. ”
Also lucky is Lin Jie.
Lin Jie, who usually lives in the city, was taken by a friend to a restaurant downstream of the "Boiling Water Dam" for dinner at noon on April 13. According to Lin Jie, the restaurant's special feature is that guests can dine on board.
A merchant advertised on Xiaohongshu that he could eat fish pot on a boat
During the meal, a boat will pull passengers from the shore of the hotel to the water at the foot of the mountain, which is about a minute away, and passengers will board a special dining boat and pull them back to the shore after the meal is over.
"There were about five or six boats parked [on the shore of the hotel]. Lin Jie said.
On social platforms, most people reported that the weather was not good on the 13th. According to Lin Jie's recollection, when they boarded the boat and prepared to sail, the wind was relatively strong, and he reached into the water to probe it, "it was cooler".
At 14:30, while eating, Lin Jie suddenly heard a shout, "Look over there and see the boat capsized." He recalled to the south wind window that some people were holding on to the side of the boat when the boat capsized, and a few minutes later, two or three boats came to rescue people and "pull the people who fell into the water."
After the incident, Lin Jie and his friends watched on the boat, but they felt something was wrong behind them and wanted to leave quickly. So he and his friends asked the hotel to call a boat to pick them up, and "waited for about ten minutes." Lin Jie told Nanfeng Window that when he left, the overturned boat was still on the surface, and a rescue boat was docked on the shore, and the people on board were performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a man who had fallen into the water.
Recalling the scene at that time, Lin Jie felt a little scared. He said that there were people eating in other boats nearby during the meal, and that there were no safety measures such as life jackets on his own boat.
In addition, Lin Jie admitted to Nanfeng Window that they had planned to take a boat ride in the river after dinner, but after seeing the capsizing accident, he and his friends left directly.
"Before the revoked of the scenic spot, each boat had life jackets"
Chen Fang, a local, told Nanfeng Window that her home was more than ten miles away from the place of the incident and she often went there.
On the 13th, the cruise ship overturned, specifically in the rolling dam "small reservoir". Chen Fang said that the dam "was built by us in Lulong (County) in the 70s," and that the Taolin Reservoir, about seven or eight miles upstream of the dam, was "named after Taolin Village."
Chen Fang recalled that before 2018, there were many bus tour groups to visit Taolinkou, "there are many in the northeast of Tianjin". Because before that, Taolinkou was a national 2A-level tourist attraction.
A June 2022 article in the Qinhuangdao Evening News mentioned that since 2008, tourism development projects such as Taolinkou Great Wall folk tours and landscape tours have been implemented. "When tourism is booming, almost every family has a tin boat, and there are more than 20 farmhouses in the village. The article reads.
In October 2018, Lulong County revoked the qualification of Taolinkou 2A-level scenic spot.
Lulong County revoked the qualification of Taolinkou 2A-level scenic spot / Source: Lulong County People's Government official website
According to the information on the website of the People's Government of Lulong County, on October 15, 2018, the Lulong County Tourist Attraction Quality Rating Committee issued an announcement stating that it decided to revoke the national 2A-level scenic spot qualification of Taolinkou due to the protection of water sources.
Chen Fang told Nanfeng Window that after the revoked of the scenic spot, some people will generally come to play when the water is released from the Taolinkou Reservoir. The dam generally releases water in the spring to ensure the water supply of the villages, and when there is a lot of rain in the summer, "the reservoir cannot be filled, and the water is also released".
Most of the current tourists are local and non-local residents, "Tangshan and Qinhuangdao". Chen Fang said.
There were many people driving boats along the Qinglong River where the incident occurred, and Chen Fang described the private boats downstream of the dam as "black boats" and "no procedures". She said that after the revoked of the scenic spot, the government had cancelled the use of boats, "[the current private boats] may have been bought later", and gradually appeared in recent years, "from one or two boats (to develop)".
The left is the iron boat, and the right is the "bamboo raft boat"/Source: Jimu News
On March 22, 2024, Qinhuangdao News Network reported that the Qinhuangdao Maritime Safety Bureau, the Qinhuangdao Municipal Oceanic and Fishery Bureau, the Qinhuangdao Coast Guard, the Port and Shipping Public Security Bureau of the Qinhuangdao Public Security Bureau, and the Qinhuangdao Detachment of the Coastal Defense Management Corps of the Hebei Provincial Public Security Department jointly carried out a special operation to severely crack down on marine fishing, passenger and cargo transportation, aquaculture and fishing, leisure and entertainment and other activities that evade supervision and engage in marine fishing, passenger and cargo transportation, aquaculture and fishing, leisure and entertainment in violation of laws and regulations.
However, the above information shows that this special operation only focuses on the safety of water traffic in the sea area, and does not mention inland rivers and other waters.
Chen Fang once took a friend on a boat. She told Nanfeng Window that the price of a single boat ride for a person is generally about 10 yuan, "I don't sell tickets, except for cash, I transfer money or something, scan the code to pay." The situation is different, the price may also be different, if you are familiar with the villagers who drive the boat, it can be cheaper, Chen Fang once tried to take a boat driven by his classmates, "sat on 12 people, gave 50 yuan".
According to other media reports, tourists can take a free cruise if they dine at a farmhouse along the river.
The dining table and gas canister on the ship/Source: Photo provided by the interviewee
Chen Fang remembers that there were several warning signs along the river, saying that swimming, fishing and tourists were not allowed to stop.
Regarding life jackets, Chen Fang has not never seen them. She recalled to the south window that before the Taolinkou Scenic Area was revoked, "every boat had life jackets", and today's private boats "mostly do not have life jackets". In Chen Fang's opinion, this was to save money, so she did not buy life jackets.
Under normal circumstances, she said, these private boats can seat about 20 people, and if there are fewer tourists, "there are also cases of several people (on one boat)." "It's okay to have fewer people and boats, but it's hard to say if there are too many, all of them are farmers," says Chen Fang, who doubts the quality of the boats and whether the people who drive them have undergone formal training.
In the past, Chen Fang sometimes walked around the Taolinkou Reservoir. Recalling her feelings at the Taolinkou Reservoir, she told Nanfeng Window that in the summer, when the dam released water, "no matter how hot it is, it's really cool there."
"Wild attractions" became an Internet celebrity in Xiaohongshu
Although in the eyes of outsiders, Taolinkou is not a well-known scenic spot, nor is it a formal scenic spot. However, on some social platforms that "plant grass", Taolinkou is known as "Little Three Gorges" and "Little Guilin", which is the so-called "niche check-in place" or "niche tourist destination" that young people like at present, attracting many people to experience and check in.
The reporter of Nanfeng Window searched for "Taolinkou" as a keyword on the Xiaohongshu platform, showing a lot of play strategies and "planting grass" posts.
Some bloggers refer to Taolinkou as the "Little Three Gorges" around Beijing, "with mountains and rivers...... 50 yuan for a round trip by boat"; some bloggers recommend Taolinkou Reservoir cruises, saying that Taolinkou is known as "Little Guilin", "boating in the mountains and rivers, the beautiful scenery is in full view". The anchor also mentioned that you can eat big fish stewed in an iron pot and farm dishes on the cruise.
After the incident on April 13, someone left a message under the above post of the broadcaster: Don't go to Taolinkou again, many people drowned this afternoon.
The travel guide of Taolinkou on Xiaohongshu
A farmhouse near Taolinkou also posted some Xiaohongshu posts before, recommending the iron pot stew on his boat. The reporter from Nanfeng Window called one of the farmhouses, and the telephone CRBT said that the store provided cruise services. After the phone was connected, the reporter asked about the matter, and the other party said: No comment.
In other similar Xiaohongshu "planting grass" posts, tourists sit on boats, no one is wearing life jackets, and the boat travels faster, stirring up a slight wave. The blogger wrote: Meet in Taolinkou on the weekend, in this green mountain and green water, take you to ride the wind and waves!
Everyone who "planted grass" described the beauty and uniqueness of Taolinkou, but almost no one mentioned "safety" until after the accident.
"In recent years, some so-called 'wild attractions' have attracted the attention and visits of some tourists, and these attractions are usually not commercially developed or not regulated and standardized. Yin Jie, a professor at the School of Tourism of Huaqiao University, told Nanfeng Window.
The boat parked on the shore / Source: Jimu News
Yin Jie said that the Taolinkou Scenic Area was disqualified and no longer met the "Quality Rating and Classification of Tourist Attractions", which means that it does not belong to the management of relevant departments and belongs to "wild attractions".
Yin Jie believes that there are three main reasons why "wild attractions" are popular: the yearning for nature, the aesthetic fatigue of traditional tourism, and the promotion of social media.
"The explosion of short videos on the Internet and social media has prompted many wild attractions to become 'Internet celebrity check-in places', and the sharing and promotion of bloggers has attracted a large number of tourists. Yin Jie said. However, because of the lack of development and management, there is a lack of safety equipment and first-aid facilities, and there are high personal safety risks.
In this cruise ship overturning accident, the cruise ship involved was a privately operated and illegally operated vessel. Yin Jie said that this kind of private tourism services are mostly operated by individuals or small groups, and the price is lower than that of formal tourism services, but they often lack formal safety training and business qualifications, and it is difficult to meet the standards for the maintenance of facilities and equipment and the necessary safety equipment configuration.
The accident boat floated in the middle of the river/Source: Jimu News
"The safety of tourists cannot be guaranteed if security measures are not in place. Yin Jie said that due to the lack of supervision, this kind of service may have a series of problems such as substandard facilities and equipment, non-standard operating procedures, and weak emergency rescue capabilities.
Yin Jie told Nanfeng Window that although the mainland tourism department has certain regulatory measures for private tourism services and "wild attractions", such as requiring operators to legally register with relevant government departments, formal businesses must have a license to operate, and comply with production and operation laws and regulations.
However, there are still difficulties in supervision: the rights and responsibilities of supervision are not clear, the centralized management is unclear, and there is no relevant superior legal basis for centralized management; regulatory resources are limited, and the cost of supervision is high, and it is impossible to ensure that comprehensive supervision is in place; some scenic spots are located in remote areas, and illegal operators are relatively hidden, and it is difficult to crack down; tourists' safety awareness is weak, and they often lack vigilance in the face of unknown risks.
The guardrail and warning on the upstream shore of the dam body/Source: Jimu News
Yin Jie said that in addition to the difficulties in supervision, there is also a contradiction between local villagers relying on tourism to increase income and safety management. In addition to the ban after the accident, appropriate measures can also be taken to balance the contradictions.
Specifically, "the government can support local residents and help them transform or upgrade their business models." Yin Jie said that secondly, "we can establish a cooperation mechanism between residents and scenic spots, establish a tourism management mechanism with community participation, and let residents participate in the standardized management of scenic spots."
In addition, improve the service awareness, professional skills and safety emergency knowledge of local residents, provide and strengthen safety training for residents, and operate and publicize in strict accordance with laws and regulations to ensure that production and business activities meet the requirements and standards of safety and environmental protection.