Torrential rain suddenly, the fine sky was covered by cloudy clouds, and the sea darkened. The Phoenix is leaving Grand Emperor Island in Phuket, Thailand, for a return trip-according to schedule, tourists will arrive at wharf at 05:30 on the 5th, ending a day of rafting before dark.
However, the Phoenix could not return to shore on time. The wind and rain shook the boat, the water smashed the windows and flooded into the cabin. People jumped out of the cabin, others were wrapped out of the cabin, and others sank 40 meters below the water with the hull.
Among the passengers, Mr. Huang of Haipai Company was rescued a few minutes later, Tan Xinyan finished the rafting for nearly 15 hours, and four of the five boys who had just finished college entrance examination were in hospital beds adjacent to the hospital. There are also dozens of messages and missed calls on a woman's cell phone.
At about 17: 45 local time on the 5th, two cruise ships were on their way back to Phuket when a severe storm capsized and sank. All 42 people on the Princess Asha were rescued, both dead and missing from the Phoenix. So far, 12 of the 105 people aboard the Phoenix have survived, 49 of the 93 tourists have been rescued and 23 are missing. Maritime officials said in an interview that the chances of finding survivors were almost zero.
Group
Before the wind and rain came, lifejackets were at the bow of the boat, stacked on a column, barely worn by tourists.
Tan knew it was the rainy season, but the diving coach told her it wasn't a problem: "he said if the weather was dangerous, government would inform her that diving would be banned."
Sitting in the back of the bottom of the luxury yacht, she closed her eyes at the corner of the "back" seat-a special dive with friends in Phuket and a satisfying experience on Little Imperial Island. Although they could not swim, they put on diving suits, carried oxygen cylinders, followed the diving coach more than a dozen meters into the water, and watched the fish swim past their sides.
At this time, both girls because of fatigue and vertigo and sit quietly motionless. Tan Xin held a green handbag and purple schoolbag, which contained passports and cosmetics. She has been to Thailand, this time naturally become a friend's guide, will two documents on their own, all arrangements. "We are all careless people, and we can talk about it all the time. I also said, when I arrive in Bangkok tomorrow, I will go to eat delicious food. " She told journalist.
On the same floor, Mr. Huang sat in the second row near the bow. He is a member of the Shanghai Company, this time with other middle-level managers and family members. Each summer vacation, the company will organize such an event, this time a total of 40 people participated. That morning, his wife and children were not on board because they were unwell.
The ship, which has 93 tourists, 12 crew members and tour guides, has a graduation tour consisting of five boys who have just finished college entrance examination. July 5 is their first day in Thailand. "from childhood to the big brother, 18-year-old, college entrance examination wanted to come out to have fun, take a break." Xiao Li said.
Su Jiao-min, who joined colleagues and his brother in a six-person free tour group, uploaded a photo of the trip to Time line. 17:49 Beijing time (16:49 local time), she posted a voice in her loved ones social app group describing the experience of diving and play. "she finished diving and returned to the boat, saying the fish in the sea were beautiful and the scenery was beautiful."
When the storm came suddenly, the crowd quieted down and looked out of the window, "the sensory nerves tightened." Mr. Huang said he plugged his headphones in the hope of using music to distract his unease. The cabin rocked, the things on the table rolled to the ground, and no one looked after him. He clung to the back of the chair and pressed his foot to the foot of the table.
In the shake, Tan Xinyan opened her eyes and looked out of the window, which is a rare rain in her hometown Hunan. She was photographed in the back row with a mobile phone, and another family from Haining was made up of grandma, mother and two or three-year-old children. The baby cried loudly, and Grandma sat on the floor, patting him on the back, comforting softly, the rain getting louder and louder, and the cry quieter and quieter-the child fell asleep.
The picture shows the sunk of the Phoenix cruise ship. Thai rescue force map
wind and rain
The lifejackets were passed from the front row to the back row, and the passengers were tacitly dressed. Some people feel the crisis, more and more people stand up and go to the bow. Tan Xinyan and Mr. Huang still sit in the original position, with the boat rocking more and more severe. At this point, she did not know that the safest thing to do was to stand outside, not sit in the cabin, when the ship was at risk of overturning.
When the boat sloped to 45 degrees and the water poured into the first window, Tan heard the diving coach shout, asking people to go out and a high school teenager standing in the stern jumped down and jumped into the water.
One wave after another clapped onto the ship, the stern of which was full of water. The passengers were unable to stand on the board. "everyone fell, and I held the post." Xiao Yu, who had just finished college entrance examination, said the front passengers could not walk because the floor was slippery and that the people behind them were stuck in the cabin.
In the cabin, escape became extremely difficult. Barefoot is required in the cabin, and there is no place to work under it; the ship swings back and forth, making it difficult to climb up the table and chair. A female colleague slid over with her daughter, and Mr. Huang pulled her down, and the three slowly moved toward the hatch. The co-worker's husband came in through the hatch against the crowd, picked up the girl, followed his wife and Mr Huang-and in the end, only the mother of the trio survived.
"not too fast. I have a 10-year-old girl in front of me." Followed by Tan Xinyan said. She carried two bags on her shoulders, held a friend in one hand, and moved the seat step by step. Behind her, grandma held the baby, and the child burst into tears.
Mr. Huang, who sloped across the threshold, fell to the ground just a step from the door, and the sea rushed into the cabin. A man next to him broke the glass. He slapped his hands and struggled out of the hole, pushing his legs up until he came to the surface. He raised his head and called for help from a kayak in the distance.
Mr. Huang stretched out his hand to the kayak and found his arms dripping with blood. The guide called for a tape, tied to the upper edge of the arm wound, and took off his T-shirt and tore it into pieces to wrap him up. Colleagues in charge of finance are crying with their 10-year-old daughter. His glasses were lost while swimming and his eyes were blurred. He was rescued.
On July 7, three rescue ships were cooperating with the rescue. Photo by Beijing News reporter Peng Ziyang
From the waves to the boat capsize, only more than 10 seconds. I don't know how long Xiao Li was trapped in the cabin, just remember to take a hard thing, beat the glass desperately. Kobayashi followed him and struck the glass with his hand. The glass was smashed and scratched on the boys.
No crew, captain, guide, boys recall, only screams. Xiao Yu, unable to move his legs, came out of the cabin and floated against the sea against his lifejacket. Kobayashi held the wood and looked for rescuers until he saw a lifeboat and swam over.
As the water poured in, Tan quickly flashed a thought: "grab a friend back, then push up, break the glass with your head, and we can float to the sea." She worked under her feet, two times against the glass, which remained motionless and could no longer hold a friend's hand in chaos.
"I was desperate at that time, and I didn't think I could get out of here alive." Tan Xinyan gave up struggling, with the sea drifting.
be driven by the current
"she may have struggled-if I had known, I could have told her to relax and get out with the current." Tan Xinyan sits at the bedside, this possibility makes her sad and tormented.
For more than a dozen hours floating at sea, she thought her friend had been saved. "I was wondering why she wouldn't come and save me. I didn't see her, I didn't know she didn't escape through that window."
The window was broken in the instant of the waves, giving up struggling Tan Xinyan followed the buoyancy of the lifejacket to the water, in addition to the sound of sea water clapping is their own heavy breathing sound, surrounded by corpses.
One hand suddenly pressed her head and patted her into the water. She took the hand away and saw that an elderly man, about 60 years old, had just risen and clung to her lifejacket. A middle-aged man also floated, seized her lifejacket, and the three gasped silently on the sea.
Breath slowly calmed down, Tan Xinyan heard his slow and hoarse voice: "how are you?" The two men did not speak. I don't know when they stopped breathing, loosened her lifejacket and drifted away slowly.
"there will always be a rescue team in such a big accident." She relaxed and waited, but the time went by, and the expected motor did not appear. Only occasionally, the water poured into her ear and nose, and she began to wave her limbs and swim to a distant destination.
The target was a small green island, which seemed to float not far away. However, after a swim, a wave came and she returned to where she was. "you can only see 1/3 of the island, no matter how far away, it does not seem to travel near."
She tried to get rid of it when she found it floating on the surface of the water, unable to break free; and a life jacket with no straps tied under its legs was fastened to the jaw, and the sea ground the jaw so painfully that it could not be broken. She kept swimming, and if she was too tired, she opened her mouth and took a sip of the sea.
As it darkened, a woman's body drifted in. Tan Xinyan swam past, see the body carrying a bag, inside there is a bottle of water. It was the first time she had received supplies this night.
After drinking the water and recovering her strength, she seized the body and swam. "I thought I'd take her ashore with me." "at that time, people would desperately want to catch something," Tan said.
Despite clutching the little sister's lifejacket, Tan Xinyan did not dare to look at her face, just looking forward. She began to talk to the little sister, saying that she had not seen Grandma and Grandma for a long time. She said that she would cherish her life in the future, filial piety to her parents, and that she was the only daughter. If she had a brother or sister, she would have given up her desire to survive a long time ago, and said that she was so young. I didn't have time to be a mother.
"at that time, I swam for a while and shouted if there was anyone else, but there was nothing to talk about except for the body or the body. For example, when you meet a living person, you can communicate with each other and cheer up or something. No, only I am there alone. "
Little sister brought water bottle has not finished, but I do not know when to lose, Tan Xinyan a little discouraged, but did not let her go. There was a dim light in the distance, and she swam in the direction of the light, but beyond reach.
When the moon came out, she saw a bag in the distance and took the little girl closer slowly. It is a plastic bag, inside there is a small jar, open is Plum juice. "this is the best Plum juice I've ever had in my life."
The belongings of the victims recovered. Photo by Beijing News reporter Peng Ziyang
rescue
The goal of moving towards the island turned into a search for nearby supplies, another large bag drifting not far away, and she struggled to swim past-there was no food or water except for diving equipment.
"I told myself I couldn't sleep. If I slept, I might have choked and died." She floated while she was swimming, and followed the divers' instructions to handle the choking water in her nose.
As the day brightened, the outline of the island became clear. "it was really hopeless, and I tried again, but no matter where I swam and swim for a while, the waves rushed us back in the opposite direction."
I'm sorry, the girl let go of the little girl's tape and swam towards the island. She swam for a long time, but the distance remained unchanged. She looked at the clouds again. "if I swam through that cloud, I might be closer to the island."
The island of Baik Woo-Hwa was like a mirage, and she wrote herself a blank check: when on the island, there must be anything to eat.
Hope was running out, and she even resented the lifejacket. "if there were no lifejacket, I might have drowned, but with the lifejacket, floating here, she could only starve to death and die of thirst." I think, when I really want to give up, I will untie the belt of the lifejacket, but fortunately I have not done so. "
"I ask for Bodhisattva in my heart, and I hope there is a boat there, and I really see one." Tan Xinyan did not know that it was Thailand's military search and rescue boat, the most optimistic plan is the tourist boat-if you swim to its route, maybe it will meet when it returns. She rowed hard and swam towards the boat.
However, the waves again pushed her back to where she was, Xu Xinyan opened her throat and shouted "help," the distance of the Thai military boat slowly approaching, someone reached out to her hand. After nearly 15 hours of drifting at sea, she was finally able to lie on a solid deck and, more than an hour later, returned to shore and was taken to the hospital.
There are dozens of messages and no calls on a female victim's cell phone. Beijing News, Peng Ziyang
Local Thai rescue teams also found the remains of an adult female victim. She hung a cell phone around her neck and put it in an orange waterproof bag.
Rescuers pressed the phone screen and found it undamaged. Photos on the scene show that the screen time is 14:34 on the 7th, below are several "Wang Jing" social app messages, as well as dozens of missed calls.
Chinese translation attempts to call back according to the call, but because the phone has a password can not unlock, had to stop, and then put back waterproof bag. As a result of long-term bubble face deformation, her identity is still unable to confirm.
Su Jiao-min's family has been watching the list of rescues and deaths in family and volunteer groups.
"the other five people, who were on the list at noon yesterday, saw them registered to the hospital for treatment, but called to the hospital and said they didn't have any information." Later, Su Jiao-min's sister saw the names of five people on the list of missing persons, which appeared on the latest published death list on the morning of the 7th, but still no information on Su Jiao-min.
Before going to Phuket, Su-min's family sent a time line: "I'm not sure, we don't believe anything, everything and hope, I know you're in a hospital, be strong!"
On the 7th, Mr. Huang lay in a hospital bed in Phuket with his hands bandaged and the scene was still in front of him two days ago.
Tan Xinyan sits in the bed of Phuket House Wakira Hospital, the bed is two crumpled passports, one of which has no master, she called her friend's parents, but I do not know where to start.
Of the five boys on the graduation trip, four were admitted to several adjoining beds in the Phuket hospital, with leg injuries, stitches, and mother walking slowly.
Another boy, Zhou, is still on the missing list, and they are still waiting.