Life-and-Death Rescue on the Xiang River

“Keep pushing! It’s just ahead, faster, faster!” The constant shouts from the shore echoed in the mind of Ouyang Ge, a member of the Blue Sky Rescue Team. He knew he had to stay steady.

“There’s only 50 meters left, hold on! 30 meters – 20 meters – 10 meters.” He quickly paddled while shouting encouragement to the person in distress. Finally, he got close enough to see the person struggling in the water; she was conscious and only about ten years old. He took off his life jacket and put it on the girl, then pulled her up. Just then, he spotted a police boat speeding towards them, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This scene took place on the evening of July 31, shortly after floodwaters had surged through the Xiangjiang River. Flowing gracefully through Changsha, the magnificent Xiangjiang not only nourishes the city but also tragically drowns precious lives. Since 2021, over 200 volunteers from the Changsha Blue Sky Rescue Team and more than 20 police from the water police brigade have been on 24-hour duty in the Xiangjiang, forming a crucial rescue force for the section of the river in Changsha. Over the past three years, they have collectively saved 179 lives.

Through years of rescue efforts, they have witnessed the fragility of life and the sorrows and joys of the human experience, exemplifying their reverence for life and humanity through unwavering rescue operations.

“Golden rescue time: 4 minutes”

At noon on December 3, the water of the Xiangjiang had turned biting cold as the initial chill of winter set in. A man just rescued from the water lay on the bow of the police boat, trembling from the cold. He spoke softly in response to the police inquiries and reassurances. Luckily, he had not been in the water long and was relatively unharmed. The two officers felt relieved as they gathered their equipment and guarded him.

This was the second time that day the water police had been dispatched for this man. The first time was when he was persuaded to leave the area, and the second was when he was pulled from the water near the Orange Isle Bridge. The water police brigade is stationed about 2 kilometers away from the bridge. Within four minutes of the alert, their boat can reach the incident site. Fortunately, the water was not too choppy at the time, and current wasn’t swift. When Officer Li Wenbo called the person who made the report to confirm the location of the victim, Li Mincai, a police officer and Blue Sky Rescue instructor, quickly identified the struggling man in the water. “To the left, head left,” he instructed the vessel’s driver, Officer Li Yang.

The police boat skillfully approached the victim, and Li Mincai tossed him a life ring, which he grasped. Officer Li Wenbo immediately set up a ladder, and together with Li Mincai, each positioned on either side of the boat, they pulled the man out of the water while Li Yang assisted from behind.

After the upgrade of their boat, it was now faster and high enough above the water that it required two or three people to pull someone aboard. The boat soon returned to the dock, where the rescuer helped the man, who was still dazed, to walk towards the water police’s barge.

He was born in 2005, and the police provided him with clothing donated by the Blue Sky Rescue Team while Officer Li Yang ensured he was safely taken away by police.

“Generally speaking, a drowning victim’s golden rescue window is only four minutes—if they aren’t rescued within that time, it becomes very difficult,” experienced officers remarked. If the victim had fallen farther away, or if no one had spotted him in time to report, or if the conditions had been rougher, the consequences could have been dire.

In the early hours of October 2, this year, Liao Zhijian from the Blue Sky Rescue Team and the water police experienced such a heartbreaking incident. Due to their distance, by the time they reached the scene, a girl had already drifted 30 meters away. They managed to pull her to shore and performed CPR for ten minutes, but despite the arrival of medical personnel who continued the effort, sadly, they were unable to save her.

For those who knew how to swim or could find something to float on, there was still hope for survival even with some time spent in the water. On October 25, a man who jumped off the Monkey Stone Bridge managed to stay afloat longer due to his swimming skills. Officers and rescue team members reached him 13 minutes after receiving the alert and successfully brought him to safety.

Officer Yang Yifan also rescued a drunken man who fell into the water at 2 a.m. He floated from the Liuyang River to the Xiangjiang and was discovered shouting for help at 5 a.m.

Nearly every officer in Changsha’s water police has rescued several such lucky survivors, yet the team responds to hundreds of calls annually. Currently, there are three forensic officers in the Changsha water police, including squad captain Cao Yuanyu, “post-95” Guo Lihua, who appeared in the documentary “Guarding Liberation West,” and “post-94” forensic doctor Zhou Nan, who joined in September of this year. Their desks feature a stack of death certificates, with deceased individuals ranging from 17 to 80 years old. The majority of the deaths were attributed to drowning, aside from a few cases classified as “falls.”

The calling of volunteer recovery teams

The Xiangjiang River flows northward, enveloping Changsha while the Liuyang and Laodao Rivers converge from the north, with nine bridges crossing the river. The 175 kilometers of riverbanks and 130 square kilometers of drainage area are managed by the Changsha water police. The arduous task of searching for and recovering bodies, often overlooked or even considered taboo, is undertaken by more than 20 members of the Changsha water police.

Due to frequent accidental drownings, cities with rivers inevitably face the issue of recovered floating corpses. In Guangzhou, where the Pearl River crosses through, a paper published in 2016 by officers, including Li Xu from the Guangzhou Police Water Division, analyzed bodies recovered in their jurisdiction from 2003 to 2012.

The analysis indicated that higher numbers of bodies were found during high-temperature periods and rainy seasons and that men were more likely to drown due to excessive alcohol consumption and overconfidence in their swimming abilities.

In addressing these concerns, public departments are continuously improving rescue and recovery methods, often with support from social rescue forces.

In July 2010, the Changsha Blue Sky Rescue Team was formed, taking on the responsibility for free search and recovery. They notify the Changsha water police to conduct examinations after recovering a body in the Xiangjiang. Meanwhile, when the water police require assistance, they call upon Blue Sky volunteers.

Chen Fuqiu, a winter swimming enthusiast and a retired official who once served as the deputy curator of the Hunan Provincial Cultural History Museum, does not receive support from his family for his volunteer efforts in recovering bodies, yet they also do not oppose it.

Currently, the Changsha Blue Sky Rescue Team has 1,622 registered volunteers, including 226 team members and 4 full-time staff. Whenever a recovery is needed, recruitment messages are sent out in their group, with volunteers readily coming forward. They include retired officials like Chen Fuqiu, as well as drivers for tourist trains in the Orange Isle scenic area, highway police, management personnel from state-owned enterprises, company accountants, hospital nurses, property managers, and other volunteers aged from the “60s” to the “00s,” all trained for three months before joining.

“The main motivations for joining Blue Sky are typically threefold: a passion for public welfare, love for sports, or the desire to experience life. Their commitment varies, as do their skills, but we encourage everyone to serve their community within their capacity—this is how we sustain our mission,” said Peng Yongzhong, the team leader for the Changsha Blue Sky Rescue Team, who has served for 11 years as a geologic surveyor.

“Since 2014, the free search and recovery operations by the Changsha Blue Sky Rescue Team have gradually replaced the paid recovery services in the Xiangjiang,” stated Zhang Yi, the Party Secretary of the Blue Sky Rescue Team.

“People in the community often label the Blue Sky Rescue Team as just ‘body recovery specialists’,” said team member Lü Jian, smiling ruefully. However, he has a respectable job in a public agency, and as a middle-aged father, he reflects deeply on life.

Two groups of people, officials and civilians, both engaged in “dirty work,” respect one another, and over the years, they have developed new “rescue plans.”

“Life has no greater matter than life and death”

In October 2019, the Changsha Blue Sky Rescue Team recovered the body of a young male near the Xiangjiang River in Wangcheng District. The man was an employee in his twenties from Hunan Youchuang Technology Co., who went missing after jumping into the river following a scam and gambling-induced debt. When the company sent people searching, they discovered he had given his phone to a passerby and could not be contacted. More than twenty days later, the Blue Sky team recovered him, concluding he had jumped from the Xiangjiang Bridge (Orange Isle Bridge) and drifted many kilometers northward.

The owner of the company, Ye Chensong, arranged for his finance department to pay the Blue Sky Rescue Team, but he was informed that no payment was required. Shocked, he asked, “What kind of organization is this, and who are these people?” One of his employees was a member of the Blue Sky team, who explained their operations to Ye. Touched, he asked if they needed funding