□ Our reporter Liu Huan Liu Zhiyue
□ Intern Yi Jiaxin of our newspaper
On May 16th, in Shiziguan Scenic Area, Zhushan Town, Xuanen County, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province, a black vehicle broke through the guardrail and fell into the water when passing the floating bridge in online celebrity, which aroused widespread concern in the society.
On the night of the incident, the Information Office of Xuanen County Government issued a notice saying that a commercial vehicle in Shiziguan Scenic Area, Zhushan Town, Xuanen County fell into the water from the floating pontoon, with eight people on board, three people escaped from danger, and five people died after being rescued ashore. At present, the business of the scenic spot has been suspended, and the aftermath and accident investigation are being carried out in an orderly manner.
On the morning of May 17th, the reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" called the Lion Pass Scenic Area, and the staff of the scenic area said that they were fully cooperating with the police investigation and actively doing the aftermath, and the subsequent opening hours would be announced separately.
The cause of the pontoon car crash is still under investigation, but the reporter found that there are at least three questions to be solved about the safety management of scenic spots.
Limited to seven. Why did nine cars get on the bridge?
The floating bridge involved in the project is called "Dream of Covered Bridges", which is a key tourism project recommended by Lion Pass Scenic Area.
According to official website, a scenic spot, the floating bridge is 400 meters long and 4.5 meters wide, which can accommodate 10,000 people to walk on it at the same time.
During the May Day holiday this year, Mr. Shen, a citizen of Wuhan, Hubei Province, came here to visit the Lion Pass Scenic Area. "There is no separate charge for the pontoon bridge. As long as you buy tickets, you can drive and play, and the traffic volume has not been small." At the peak of play, the pontoon bridge is full of vehicles, one next to the other, resulting in flooding of the bridge deck and difficulty in driving.
Before driving across the bridge, Mr. Shen also noticed that there was a warning sign at the entrance of the pontoon bridge, which read "No retrograde" and "20 yards speed limit", and there was an automatic speaker at the entrance to remind him.
It is worth noting that the vehicle that crashed into the bridge was a nine-seat commercial vehicle.
Ms. Li is a native of Enshi and has visited the scenic spot. According to her memory, before she drove on the pontoon bridge, the staff repeatedly stressed that it was necessary to open the window and pass slowly while driving. Moreover, there are many speed bumps on the pontoon bridge, with relatively short guardrails on both sides and a "speed limit of 20 yards" sign on the roadside.
However, she found on the pontoon bridge that some tourists were driving fast on the bridge, which made her feel a little jumpy. "How dare you drive so fast?"
Ms. Li noticed that although there were security guards at the entrance of the pontoon, there was no manned rescue point in the middle of the pontoon at that time, and the exit of the pontoon was unattended.
The video of the car crashed through the net showed that the black commercial vehicle brought layers of waves when passing through the pontoon bridge, and the tire skidded while driving, and then broke through the guardrail and fell into the water.
Is it really safe to claim to be able to cross the pontoon bridge of tanks?
The floating bridge involved is also famous for being "the most beautiful floating bridge in Hubei".
According to public information, a video platform account named "Shanghai Qihua Water Project" published a short video of "China’s most beautiful online celebrity pontoon bridge dedicated to cars in Shiziguan Grand Canyon, Enshi, Hubei (60 meters deep)".
According to the video content, the car can float on the bridge: "When the car crosses this pontoon bridge created by the locals, it drives on a green emerald river. The water ripples clear the way, and the left and right handrails move up and down in waves, which has a magical feeling of crossing time and space. "
The reporter found that on the afternoon of May 17, the above video had been deleted. According to public information, Shanghai Qihua Aquatic Engineering Construction Co., Ltd. is the builder of the pontoon bridge.
The reporter called the company to interview the safety of the pontoon bridge, but was rejected by the other party.
According to public information, in March this year, the person in charge of the Lion Pass Scenic Area said in an interview with the media: "The pontoon bridge itself is German technology and used for tanks. There has never been an accident since it was put into use in 2016. "
However, the safety dispute about the pontoon bridge has always existed.
According to official website, Enshi Prefecture Government, in August 2019, there were frequent local rainstorms. In order to ensure safety, Xuanen County and Zhushan Town Government, together with relevant departments, formed an inspection team to conduct a four-day safety inspection of Shiziguan Scenic Spot and Chedongping Scenic Spot within their jurisdiction. After the inspection team conducted a safety hazard investigation of the Lion Pass Scenic Area, it issued an instruction to order rectification within a time limit. Among them, the safety facilities for rafting in the scenic spot are not in place, the pontoon bridge has not been identified by safety, and the rafting project is ordered to stop operation immediately, and the pontoon bridge is immediately prohibited from passing.
Since the beginning of this year, the pontoon bridge has also adjusted its opening plan several times due to the weather.
On March 7th this year, WeChat WeChat official account in Lion Pass Scenic Area published an article saying that due to the weather, the water level in the scenic area dropped, and all self-driving vehicles could not cross the pontoon bridge. On April 23, the scenic spot once again published an article saying that due to the weather, the water level in the scenic spot rose, and the self-driving route of individual passengers was adjusted to "only run the pontoon ring road".
Is the hidden danger rectification in place after listing supervision?
Due to major hidden dangers, the Lion Pass Scenic Area was once listed and supervised.
Official website, Emergency Management Bureau of Enshi Prefecture, shows that since 2019, the State Work Safety Committee has listed and supervised a number of major hidden dangers found in the state-wide work safety supervision and inspection, and Lion Pass Scenic Area is one of them.
There are five main safety hazards and problems in this scenic spot: there are no emergency life-saving equipment such as lifebuoys along the pontoon; Sightseeing bus inspection of 4 batteries has expired; Iron railings are used for the highway adjacent to the water in the scenic area, and they are damaged; There are many pumice stones on the mountain wall beside the highway in the scenic area; The 380V power distribution cabinet did not form a fire separation with the ticket office.
In July, 2020, Lion Pass Scenic Area was awarded the national 4A-level tourist attraction. WeChat official account, the WeChat of the scenic spot, once wrote that the Lion Pass Scenic Spot passed the landscape quality evaluation in June 2018, and after two years of rectification and creation, the environmental quality and service quality of the scenic spot have been greatly improved.
In April, 2021, the Office of the Enshi State Safety Committee issued a notice saying that the Enshi State Safety Committee Office conducted a spot check and acceptance of some hidden dangers, and decided to cancel a number of major hidden dangers listed and supervised according to the acceptance, among which the Lion Scenic Area was on the list of sales numbers. On April 22 of the same year, the Lion Pass Scenic Area was closed to upgrade the scenic spot and reopened a week later.
On April 28th this year, Vice Governor of Enshi Prefecture led a team to inspect the safety of special equipment in Shiziguan Scenic Area, urging and guiding enterprises to improve their management and maintenance, requiring enterprises to enhance their awareness of safety responsibility of special equipment, and actively carry out self-inspection and investigation of hidden dangers to prevent safety accidents.
The safety inspection has not gone far, and the tragedy has already happened.