Enshi Shizi Pass tourist area resumes operation after being suspended due to a floating bridge accident in the water.
On December 28th, Xuan’en County Lion Pass Tourism Development Co., Ltd. in Hubei Enshi Zhou announced the “Announcement on the Restoration of Operation of Lion Pass Tourism Area”. The announcement stated that in order to accelerate the improvement of infrastructure and enhance the overall tourism experience, the upgrade project of Lion Pass Tourism Area has been fully completed, and now it has met the conditions for resuming operation. It has been decided that the Lion Pass Tourism Area will resume operation on December 28th, 2024.
On May 16th, 2023, at about 11:19, a business vehicle broke through the fence and fell into the water in the Lion Pass Scenic Area of Zhushan Town, Xuan’en County, Enshi Zhou, Hubei Province. The vehicle was carrying 8 people and resulted in 5 deaths. After the accident, the scenic spot was suspended.
The “调查报告” released by the Emergency Management Bureau of Enshi Zhou previously showed that the accident was determined to be a production safety responsibility accident. The investigation report revealed that there were two floating bridges in the scenic area, namely the floating bridge where the incident occurred and a pedestrian floating bridge for water sports. The floating bridge, with a length of 318 meters and a width of 4.5 meters, was equipped with white protective railings on both sides. The railings were made of high-molecular polyethylene material with a section size of 10×10 centimeters and a height of 1.1 meters. The bridge was connected by PP-R pipes with a diameter of 5 centimeters as handrails. The floating bridge used underwater anchoring to fix it in place, with a drawbridge connecting the bank and the floating bridge. The drawbridge was fixed on one side to a cement foundation and on the other side relied on floats. It had rollers underneath to allow movement when the water level changed. The bridge surface was covered with wooden boards and had railings on both sides for support. It was found that there were no national standards and regulations for the construction, operation, and safety management of such floating bridges, which were not included in the “Special Equipment Directory” (2014 edition), and neither “Recreational Facility Safety Management” (GB/T30220-2013) nor “General Technical Conditions for Water Recreational Facilities” (GB/T18168-2017) had specific regulations for this type of floating bridge. Therefore, this floating bridge should be classified as a new type of facility.
The “调查报告” stated that on the day of the accident, Wang Wen drove a small ordinary passenger car (carrying 7 tourists, all from Shangdang District, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province) to visit the Lion Pass Scenic Area in Xuan’en County from Enshi City. At about 10:32, they entered the scenic area and arrived at the floating bridge at about 10:40. After passing through the bridge for the first time, the tourists thought that the speed was too slow and did not experience the ups and downs and swaying of the bridge, so they decided to drive around via internal roads to reach the floating bridge entrance for a second attempt. At about 11:19, during the second attempt, Wang Wen drove at an accelerated speed to keep up with the front car and lost control while navigating a bend on the bridge. The car slipped towards the left railing of the bridge and fell into the water, resulting in eight people falling into the water.
After the accident, the driver of a tourist sightseeing car in the Lion Pass Scenic Area, Zhang, arrived at the scene of the accident at about 11:20 and rescued the落水 personnel with tourists on board a tourist bus. Two tourists, Zhang Yanyan and Cui Tao, were successfully rescued along with the driver Wang Wenlin. Zhang implemented rescue operations while reporting the accident situation through a scenic area intercom. After being informed of the accident through the intercom, Tian Lin, legal representative of scenic area, immediately arrived at the scene to organize rescue efforts by scenic area staff. Four staff members jumped into the water to carry out rescue operations but failed to rescue other five people due to low water temperature and visibility.
The accident resulted in five deaths, including two men and three women. The youngest victim was 51 years old, while the oldest was 55 years old; all victims were from Shangdang District of Changzhi City in Shanxi Province. The accident caused direct economic losses of approximately RMB 9.6 million yuan.
The investigation report identified that this accident was caused directly by Wang Wenlin’s speeding vehicle on a wet and slippery floating bridge (the average speed during the accident was greater than 30 km/h but less than 37 km/h, exceeding the
