The phone rings at 9 pm on September 6, bringing with it
terrible news. Wang Zongming, director of emergency management
office in Hotan - 1,000 km to the south of Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region's capital of Urumqi - is told by the local
tourism office that six Russian tourists have gone missing. The
tourists had set off on August 21 on a canoe trip down the
Yurungkax River but hadn't turned up for the meeting with their
interpreter on September 2, as planned.
The second survivor is carried off a PLA
search helicopter.
Wang immediately alerts the local authorities and rushes to his
office. In just 10 minutes, Hotan Area Secretary Cheng Zhenshan
organizes 10 other departmental heads of the local administration,
the military and bureaus of public security, water management,
weather and tourism. After quickly going over the case, they decide
to set up a rescue headquarters and mobilize 1,000 residents along
the river to search for the six Russians.
A massive search operation is launched at the crack of dawn the
very next day along the Yurungkax River in a remote, snowy area of
the Kunlun Mountains. Three days pass but nobody is found.
The missing tourists had no food on them and the temperature has
dipped to minus 10 C, leading to fears for their lives. Desperate,
the local authorities appeal for help from the Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region government.
On September 10, Xinjiang Military Area receives a rescue order.
A helicopter joins the search operation, leaving Urumqi at
11:30 am. Flying over the Tianshan Mountain, captain Zhong
Jianwen and co-pilot Xu Zhi have a hard time keeping the helicopter
afloat in the harsh conditions.
It takes them hours to reach the Yurungkax River - "dead zone",
as the local people call the stretch in the southern part of Hotan.
The epithet is well earned as the 560-km river originating in the
Kunlun Mountains is lined with bodies of wild animals that fell
into the valley.
Flying low and dodging unpredictable air current and the cliffs
that dot the riverbanks, the helicopter scans the entire stretch
along the river in the valley. The smallest of errors can put the
pilots' lives at risk. They return in the afternoon
empty-handed.
The next day, a second flight mission fails to find anything,
but a breakthrough is made in the afternoon on the third trip. The
pilots find three red rubber rafts in the upper reaches.
A Russian plane carrying Russian search and rescue members
arrive at Hotan the same day to join the operation. Over the next
three days, the Chinese helicopter makes seven trips.
On September 15, four rescuers land where the rafts were found.
The bodies of Sergey Chernik, 47, and his son Ivan, 25, are
recovered from under the rafts on the riverbank. Two other Chinese
helicopters join the search operation the next day. A third body,
that of Vladimir Smetannikov, 25, is found about 19 km
downstream.
Air search for the other three resume on September 18 afternoon
after an interruption caused by a sandstorm. On September 21,
rescuers find the first survivor, Alexander Zverev, 25, on the
banks of the upper reaches.
Dazed, stubbled and emaciated, Zverev is still wearing his white
canoeing helmet and a yellow-and-blue waterproof jacket. Hours
later, another survivor, 28-year-old Andrei Pautov, is found.
There's still no news about the sixth missing tourist, Dmitry
Tishchenko.
With most of his fellow travelers dead, one can understand why
Zverev says: "Who I want to thank is not God but the great Chinese
people and the great People's Liberation Army."
Rescue timeline:
August 21 Six Russians set off on a canoe trip
down the Yurungkax River.
September 2 They fail to meet their
interpreter, as planned.
September 6 Hotan sets up a rescue headquarters
after being informed about the emergency.
September 7 to 9 Hotan mobilizes 1,000 people
to search for the missing but they find nothing.
September 10 A Chinese military helicopter
joins in the search.
September 11 The Chinese helicopter finds
abandoned rafts. A Russian plane carrying search and rescue members
arrive at Hotan the same day.
September 15 Two bodies of the missing are
recovered.
September 16 Two more Chinese helicopters join
the search. A third body is found.
September 21 Rescuers find two survivors. There
is no news about the sixth missing Russian.
(China Daily September 26, 2007)
