On July 20, train K31 was stranded at Mugou Station. Photograph provided by respondents
Article | Beijing News reporter Wu Caiqian Intern Zhang Chi Wu Jinghan Lan Han
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The rainstorm was still falling, and a green train was trapped in the ravine.
On July 20, the K31 train from Fuzhou to Luoyang was stranded at Mugou Village Station in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. The mountains on both sides are constantly sliding, mud water is flowing down, and the grooves of the rail become small muddy yellow pools.
More than 900 people were stranded on the train for 48 hours and lost contact with the outside world. With the extension of waiting time, people first snapped up food, queued up to recharge, smashed windows to escape, and then began to help each other, share medicines, and get familiar with each other.
The rainstorm trapped K31 and the whole Mugou Village.
The permanent population of this small village is only more than 1000 people, hidden in a gully. The torrential rain for several days led to landslides, and the village was cut off from water, electricity and signals, becoming an "island". The roads to the village were broken by the heavy rain, and the mud turned into mire.
Niu Dengke, the village secretary, was busy with rescue and disaster relief. When he learned that the K31 train was trapped, he mobilized the villagers to cook noodles and eat dumplings and come to support. On the 21st, supplies from nearby stations were gradually in place, and 16 aid buses also arrived. In the afternoon, all the trapped passengers were transferred safely.
At 5:31 p.m. on the 23rd, after 96 hours of delay, the trapped train K31 finally arrived at the terminal.
A train that stops suddenly
At 3:20 p.m. on July 19, train K31 stopped at Zhengzhou Station on time.
The sky was gray, and it was drizzling. Cao Ming, a college student in Zhengzhou, stood in line on the platform, waiting to get on the train. He often takes this bus, which is very familiar to him. More than an hour later, after passing two stops, the train will arrive at the terminal Luoyang Station, just in time for dinner at home.
29 minutes later, the train started.
Through the window, it was raining harder and harder. Cao Ming received a yellow rainstorm warning message from Zhengzhou. He didn't care about it. He thought it was just an ordinary heavy rain in summer.
Another 30 minutes later, before the train left Zhengzhou, it suddenly stopped with a bang.
"Due to the weather, the train stops for a while, and the travel time will be notified later." The notice was broadcast circularly on the train. Cao Ming looked out of the window, and the rain was blurry. The passengers on the train talked, read and slept as usual. He also waited patiently. "Trains stop and go, which is normal."
Screenshot of train K31 timetable. Source: 12306 official website
At lunch, the stewards pushing trolleys full of snacks shuttled through the carriages: "Coffee, milk, fruit, are there passengers in need?" More than 900 people were stranded on the train, and the snacks on the trolleys were quickly sold out.
The dining car was also crowded with people, and the smell of instant noodles spread. Cao Ming was hungry, too. He bought the last bowl of noodles on the bus. Thinking that he might not be able to go back tonight, he sent a text message to his family, "Don't wait, see if you can go back tomorrow morning."
At about 8 p.m., the train broadcast rang again, and the passengers learned the reason for the detention: "The road ahead collapsed and is still under repair."
Various speculations spread in the carriages. Some people said that the front collapsed, some said that the bridge cave collapsed, and others said that the road was broken by the flood. No one knows the specific situation and when it will be repaired. Cao Ming asked the conductor, but the other party shook his head and couldn't say clearly.
By midnight, the train still didn't leave.
The first thing to be urgent is the power of the mobile phone. Zhang Lele is also a college student in Zhengzhou. She bought a hard seat without a charging port. There are two rechargeable seats in the dining car next door. She joined the queue for charging. Cao Ming was lucky. He met an acquaintance in the sleeping car and stayed there to rest and recharge.
It was late at night. In the hard seat carriage, the passengers sat in their seats, looked up and dozed off.
Most of those who buy hard seats are short distance passengers, and they don't bring any clothes. Zhang Lele remembered that someone took the headscarf off the seat and put it on his body. Someone kept asking the attendant to adjust the temperature. The car was hot and cold.
Until 1 o'clock in the morning, the train finally moved.
"I was very excited at that time. I thought I could get home at night and I could catch up with the job interview the next day," said Zhang Lele.
After less than half an hour, the train stopped again. Zhang Lele opened the map and found himself at a place called "Mugou Station". This is a fourth class stop. It is said that there are only 9 staff in the station.
Cao Ming looked out of the window and found that the train seemed to be parked beside a mountain. He didn't think much about it, but continued to sleep with the sound of rain.
A notice later released by the official micro blog of Zhengzhou Railway showed that the Longhai railway between Zhengzhou and Luoyang was flooded due to the heavy rain in Henan Province, and the line was forced to be blocked. To ensure the safety of the train, the K31 train from Fuzhou to Luoyang arrived at Mugou Station on the 20th and waited for refuge.
On July 21, passengers gathered around the conductor to ask about the situation. Photograph provided by respondents
The husband who smashed the car window
On July 20, after daybreak, train K31 still stopped at Mugou Station.
Zhang Lele sat on the hard seat all night and suffered from severe back pain. She looked out of the window. It rained all night, and the mud on the mountains on both sides mixed with the rain kept flowing. Some sediment even washed onto the window, and the rail beside it turned into a small pool of light yellow water.
She just wanted to send WeChat to her family, but the screen of her mobile phone went black and there was no power.
Breakfast was not provided. Some carriages even ran out of hot water, and the instant noodles that were supposed to be given to passengers also ran out. Then, the domestic water is less and less, and the use of toilets is restricted. First, we used the toilets of carriages 1-9 intensively. When there was no water, we changed to carriages 10-17.
The smell of the toilet became more and more serious. Cao Ming tried to drink as little water as possible, and only urinated when he went there. After that, he left immediately. The network is getting worse and worse, and the signal is sometimes absent. In the dining car, only cash can be used to buy food. Zhang Lele has no cash. Fortunately, the aunt at the next seat borrowed 50 yuan from her.
At noon, the first wave of food supplies arrived. There were more people queuing in the restaurant than ever before. Everyone was worried about the last meal. Someone bought a box of instant noodles with cash. More and more people were hoarding food, and the people who came to the restaurant behind could not buy anything.
The sense of hunger became stronger and stronger, and the conflict in the dining car was imminent.
Li Hongwei, the conductor, remembered that at first someone complained that "I didn't want to take this train". Later, someone knocked on the conductor's lounge and shouted, "When on earth can the train leave?" Others grabbed the door and shouted to get off.
The conductor could only keep reassuring, "I will leave later, I will leave later." Li Hongwei kept calling his superiors to report the situation, but the signal was bad, and he could not contact the outside world. The train door cannot be opened without receiving the notice.
As time went by, there was no exact information, but the signal was getting worse and worse.
At dinner, someone in the car had not eaten for a day, and the food in the dining car had already been sold out.
Cao Ming's video shows that passengers surrounded the stewards at the front desk of the dining car layer by layer, while others stood on the table and looked around. The conductor kept explaining: "When there is food, I don't care." More and more people poured into the restaurant. The policemen with red armbands rushed to maintain order.
After taking the video, Cao Ming opened the postgraduate entrance examination materials, but could not watch them at all. When he saw a girl calling home, she broke down and cried. Someone fainted, someone had a fever, and the news of seeking medicine and doctors was broadcast on the radio. The restless mood was passed on in the carriage.
At this time, there was a sudden "bang". In the sleeper compartment, someone broke the aisle window with a fire hammer and jumped out without taking the luggage.
"Someone jumped out of the window", the train began to agitate.
Cao Ming saw that a middle-aged man had smashed the window on the car door, and his wife was pregnant and could not jump out of the window. He cried out anxiously, "I'll pay for the damage. Please send my wife to the hospital quickly!"
Li Hongwei and the police came to persuade them, "You can't go out. There is a mudslide outside, which is more dangerous." They persuaded the couple, and searched for doctors and food through the radio. The starving child got a bucket of instant noodles, the old man with a headache got ibuprofen, and the pregnant woman who was uncomfortable was also taken special care of.
Cao Ming sent alcohol wipes to the feverish child, and he took the initiative to leave a phone call to the conductor. If he needs to buy materials, he can go to help. "After all, he is a sportsman and has some strength."
The stewards sealed the windows with boards, ignoring the hands cut by the glass.
Cao Ming wanted to send a message to his family, but the signal was too bad. He put his mobile phone by the window and planned to make a trembling sound on a train, "The latest situation of K31, the mountains on both sides are not too high, safe, and you can disconnect the network at any time. Don't hang up (read)."
At 3:00 a.m. on the 21st, Cao Ming had already fallen asleep. This dithering sound was finally released and received dozens of comments and hundreds of praises. Many outside friends saw his shaking voice and sent him a text message. They said they were trying to find a way and were calling the rescue team. The restaurant began emergency supply of rice.
At the moment, the news about the trapped K31 train on microblog is on hot search. More passengers sent microblog help messages with similar suffixes, "This message may be edited in the state of no signal until a signal is sent."
On July 21, the trapped passengers went to the rescue bus. Photograph provided by respondents
Helpful villages
Mugou Village also sent out a message for help.
This small mountain village, named after Mu Guiying for stationing troops, is located in the northwest of Gaoshan Town, Xingyang City, and is adjacent to Gongyi City, a heavy rain area in the west.
The rainstorm not only blocked the K31 train, but also broke many roads in Mugou Village. A villager asked for help under the topic of "Henan rainstorm mutual aid". "Mugou Village is located on the mountains as a whole, and the road to the village has been broken by the flood. The whole village has become an island, and external vehicles and personnel cannot enter the village. Some villagers lost contact and asked the relevant departments to help clear the road to the village and provide basic materials such as drinking water and food."
"Our village is in a ravine, many houses are built along the mountain, and now there are landslides everywhere. Niu Dengke, the village secretary, was busy with rescue and disaster relief. Before the villagers had finished moving, they met passengers "fleeing" from the K31 train.
Tao Jing is also a member of the "escape" to Mugou Village.
On the morning of the 21st, the rain stopped, and the sound of broken windows became more and more. The stewards could not stop it. "Can you walk, can you walk?" The companion shook Tao Jing awake and asked in a low voice.
Someone found the conductor Li Hongwei again. He did not receive accurate information, and he did not dare to act rashly. We had to continue to earnestly persuade everyone: "relief supplies and buses are coming soon, everyone wait, wait."
But no one knows when the train will leave, and people who can't wait begin to queue up and jump. Tao Jing also decided to "fight". The boys in the same group jumped down first, and then turned around to catch up with her. One by one, more than 200 people jumped off the K31 train.
After getting off the bus, you have to climb a hillside to enter the village. The surface of the cement road becomes very fragile after being washed by rain, and the loess under it is exposed. The passengers' shoes and trousers were covered with mud. Before long, someone told them that the road ahead had been flooded and they had to turn back.
At this time, Niu Dengke appeared and took the trapped people back to the village. At this time, Mugou Village is also facing the problem of material shortage, and the food in the store has already been snapped up.
However, after learning that someone was trapped in the station, many villagers arrived at the station with food.
On July 21, villagers in Mugou Village cooked dumplings for trapped passengers. Photograph provided by respondents
An old lady in a red raincoat, wearing slippers, carefully climbed down the slope, carrying a basket of freshly baked cakes to the K31 train. The originally sleepy carriage suddenly seethed. Some passengers handed her money from the window, and she shook her head repeatedly. "I can't watch the people on the train being hungry. It's better to eat one mouthful each. I can do my best, no money."
Before long, the old man carefully brought a large pot of rice soup.
Tao Jing ate her first meal after being trapped for more than 40 hours at the home of a villager. Hungry and tired, she saw the villagers bring steaming noodles and take out the mineral water she hated to drink. Her eyes were wet. "The village is still cutting off water and electricity, but we have priority."
Tao Jing wants to give money, but the other party shakes her hand and says no.
At 5:30 a.m., another batch of supplies for the train arrived.
The railway department urgently arranged 9 personnel from the adjacent station (Shangjie Station) to transport 30 boxes of water, 400 bread, 5 boxes of ham sausages and other living materials to the nearby station, and then to the station on foot to board the train.
Niu Dengke also received a notice to assist in rescuing passengers of K31 train. In addition to providing food, he asked the villagers to invite the doctors from the village health center to check the uncomfortable passengers on the bus and help contact the rescue bus.
"We are local people, and friends and relatives can help us if we have anything to do. But they are not intimate here and have no reason to know each other. At least they should not be cold hearted," Niu Dengke said.
On the afternoon of July 21, the trapped passengers got off with luggage. Photograph provided by respondents
get home
Food is no longer in short supply. When can we go home is the most frequently asked question by passengers.
"The rescue bus will come soon." Li Hongwei said this sentence many times, but everyone was unwilling to listen to it.
Until 2:00 p.m. on the 21st, Li Hongwei received the notice of the arrival of the rescue bus and happily ran to the carriage to tell the passengers. At the beginning, everyone was a little incredulous. After confirming that the information was true, someone held Li Hongwei's hand and said repeatedly, "Thank you. It's not easy."
Li Hongwei said that the train staff were under more pressure when they were trapped in the ravine for 48 hours. Afraid of any accident, Li Hongwei hardly closed his eyes. He kept cheering the conductor, "Be confident, we will overcome the difficulties."
Hearing the news that she could get off the bus, Zhang Lele stood up and stretched. "Never need to sleep on the hard seat again." When Zhang Lele's family drove to Mugou Village, she was happy and afraid of being scolded when she saw her father. "I'm afraid they will never let me go out to play again." 100 kilometers away, her mother had already prepared gluten and millet porridge, and was waiting for her.
Cao Ming said that the moment he stepped on the ground, "his heart was down, and this time he could really go."
Most passengers had their first meal in Mugou Village after getting off the bus, even though there was not much food left in the village.
Niu Dengke arranges the trapped passengers to Kerui Instrument Factory, where there is a canteen. But there is neither electricity nor gas in the village. The villagers set up firewood, took out their leftovers, cooked noodles in large iron pans, and dumplings that they would eat only during the Spring Festival.
Aunt Ji, who is over 60 years old, cooks in the factory on weekdays. She works neatly and makes dumplings quickly and well. The village was badly affected. Her husband went to help with the disaster relief and did not return overnight. It's said that some passengers haven't had a good meal for two or three days. Aunt Ji gets up early in the morning to get busy. First, they handed the pancakes stored in the factory, "You eat first, cushion your stomach." Then they were busy making dumplings and cooking noodles, and cooked about 10 pots of dumplings from front to back.
Mugou Village is the "town of valves" in the country. Most of the young people run factories and businesses in other places. The permanent population is only more than 1000. Most of them are left behind elderly people like Aunt Ji, who lack the ability to help themselves. The rainstorm destroyed the houses and caves built on the mountain, leaving many people homeless. Niu Dengke gathered the victims to the village committee and prepared to move them to temporary resettlement sites.
It happened that the trapped passengers of train K31 got off, and people gathered at the village committee spontaneously helped the trapped passengers. Village cadres walk in front with party flags, and passengers follow closely to the village entrance; Villagers drive to escort old, weak, sick and disabled passengers; There are also old people riding on tricycles to help passengers with luggage
On July 21, the cadres of Mugou Village held the party flag to lead the evacuation of trapped passengers. Photograph provided by respondents
According to the report of Zhengzhou Railway on the same day, at 2:30 pm on the 21st, 16 passenger coaches arrived at the road near Mugou Station on the Longhai Line under the joint arrangement of the local government and the railway department. Under the organization and guidance of railway staff and local public security personnel, passengers on train K31 were transferred to buses in an orderly manner. According to the arrangement, the bus will send everyone to Luoyang, Yanshi and other places according to the wishes of the passengers.
"All the passengers went home safely and healthily." Li Hongwei finally felt relieved. He stayed with more than 40 train attendants, continued to clean up the train and do the aftermath work, and returned to Luoyang the next day.
Passengers who arrived safely kept sending thanks to Mugou Village, and others wanted to send brocade flags to the village. The topic of "villagers get off dumplings to entertain the stranded passengers of train K31" hit the microblog. Mugou Village is still a "isolated island" with no water, power and signal, which is completely unknown.
It was not until the 23rd that a road leading to the neighboring county was repaired in the village, and the signal was temporarily restored, but the water and electricity were still not restored. In the face of the sudden online thanks, Niu Dengke said in a hurry on the phone, "What we do is just a small thing. Once we arrive at Mugou Village, we are our family."
At noon on the same day, Li Hongwei woke up from his home in Luoyang and said, "I haven't slept so well for a long time." Fortunately, the journey was not dangerous. He sighed: "No one can control the natural disasters. If we meet them, we can only face them bravely."
A few hours later, his "old partner" train K31 slowly pulled into Luoyang Station and safely "went home", even though it was 96 hours late.
(Cao Ming, Zhang Lele and Tao Jing are pseudonyms)