High-speed train collision: the first batch of rescuers were mostly migrant workers

Early yesterday morning, reporters returned to Shuang'ao Village, the village nearest to the accident scene. Beside the village were still piles of damaged EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) carriages. In the afternoon, reporters at the scene saw two fire trucks entering the accident site. After armed police cut some of the damaged carriages, they quickly left. Occasionally, technical personnel walked on the railway viaduct. The concrete guardrails that had been hit were yet to be repaired, but the search and rescue operations at the accident site had completely ended.

Yesterday, reporters learned from the local hospital that Xiang Wei yi, the miracle-surviving girl over 2 years old who was trapped for more than 20 hours, received fruits and flower baskets from many citizens. Some people even left their phone numbers, indicating that they would "spend money if needed, or offer help when necessary." Meanwhile, many volunteers were providing psychological assistance to injured passengers.

At around 8 PM last night, hundreds of Wenzhou citizens lit candles at Century Square to mourn the victims of the accident. According to Mr. Cai's recollection, who arrived at the rescue scene at around 8 PM on the night of the incident, more than 50 people participated in the first round of rescue efforts, most of whom were local migrant workers...

Scene Recollection: Villagers used their own door panels to carry the injured

Mr. Cai, who participated in the rescue on the night of the incident, recalled: "Neighbors and people around rushed to where the train fell, slipping in the rain and mud, with their pants covered in dirt. Upon arrival, we saw about a dozen people, possibly thrown out of the train, lying on the nearby grass. Some could call for help and groan, while others were already motionless..."

The villagers all wanted to save people, but how? Mr. Cai was momentarily stunned upon arriving at the scene, not knowing what to do. Similarly unsure of how to rescue was an earlier-arrived Mr. Wu surnamed villager, "Suddenly, I saw someone crawling out through the gap between the carriage and the ground, which woke me up, so I quickly pulled him out." Mr. Wu said that lightly injured passengers could slowly walk towards the road outside the village themselves, and some curious villagers also suddenly "woke up" and hurriedly helped by holding umbrellas and pointing out the way. "The only lighting available was the screens of mobile phones, making it impossible to clearly see the situation inside the carriages. We could only try our best to save as many as possible," Mr. Wu said. Beside him, someone picked up a stone, shouted "be careful" to those inside the carriage, and then began smashing the glass of the carriage window desperately.

What about the severely injured? "At the beginning, we used our arms as stretchers, six or seven people working together to carry severely injured passengers to the cement ground of Xia'ao Road, where ambulances soon arrived," Mr. Cai said. Not long after, the rescuing villagers gained experience and began unloading their own door panels to carry the injured. When some passengers called for water, they brought water pots from their homes. Many people shouted "hurry home and bring your car out," so some villagers drove their own small cars to take the injured to the hospital, while other surrounding villagers came on motorcycles to provide lighting with their headlights.

"In the chaos, I lost count of how many people I helped carry." Unconsciously, Mr. Cai noticed that the number of fire trucks and armed police officers increased around him, "We have enough manpower now, thank you for your help." Mr. Cai turned back and found that there were already hundreds of firefighters and armed police officers around...

Zhang Ye, a sophomore at China Agricultural University, was sitting in the suspended carriage during the incident. He told reporters yesterday: "When the train just broadcasted that it was about to arrive at the station, I was holding my luggage at the door. About half a minute later, the carriage suddenly shook violently, the power went out, and everything went pitch black. Luckily, when the collision finally stopped, I saw a big hole in the door and crawled out through it. At this time, I saw many passengers helping each other to climb out of the carriage. Many of them, after climbing out, immediately started helping others. Around 8:40 PM, it was raining heavily and visibility was very low, but within a few minutes, about a dozen local villagers came to help. Ambulances arrived shortly after. I borrowed a phone to call my family waiting at Wenzhou South Station. By the time they arrived, there were already nearly a thousand firefighters and armed police officers at the scene, and the villagers gradually withdrew from the front line of rescue. It was close to midnight when I was sent to Wenzhou Second People's Hospital..."

On-site observation: Search and rescue work has completely ended

Early yesterday morning, reporters at the scene in Shuang'ao Village observed: every 20 minutes to half an hour, a high-speed train passed through the accident site, both directions included. The speed wasn't fast, and there were almost no passengers, "possibly conducting trial runs." Surrounding villagers discussed this topic. Until the afternoon, reporters noticed that the length of passing trains increased, and through the windows, many passengers could be seen inside.

Official information confirmed the reporter's observations. At 6:57 AM yesterday, the DJ5603 train traveling from Ningbo East to Wenzhou Cangnan passed through the section of the Hangshen Line where the train collision occurred, becoming the first train to pass through the accident site after the "7·23" accident repair. By 11:00 AM, all trains heading to Wenzhou, Fuzhou, and Xiamen before 11:00 AM from Shanghai Hongqiao Station had departed on schedule.

In the afternoon yesterday, reporters at the scene observed that the search and rescue operations had completely ended. Most of the rescue vehicles and reporters in Shuang'ao Village had left, and there were fewer onlookers at the village entrance. In the evening, a few volunteers still guarded the family reception point at the accident site, although no passenger families had come all day, they also "indicated that all passengers had been accounted for, which was good news."

Yesterday, reporters visited various family reception points set up in local hospitals and Wenzhou No. 23 Middle School, finding them much quieter. Currently, Wenzhou City has deployed 57 working groups fighting around the clock on the front lines of reception, arranging 24 hotels as family contact and settlement points. Kangning Hospital, the closest to the accident site, received its only family member yesterday—Mr. Fu, who had just driven from Longyan, Fujian Province, to inquire about when his injured sister Fu Lijuan could retrieve her luggage. Staff members asked anxiously, "Is she okay?" "She suffered muscle strain in her arm and neck sprain, currently resting." "It's good that she's okay." People's tense facial muscles relaxed.

On-site interview: Psychological aid is being appropriately carried out

Yesterday, reporters revisited Kangning Hospital and coincidentally met the psychological expert team's summary meeting for the day. Experts conducted systematic psychological evaluations and interviews with three hospitalized passengers under observation. The Health Department of Zhejiang Province organized an expert group to provide standardized psychological assessment and intervention recommendations for various hospitals.

"Many injured passengers have already developed psychological defenses and resistance emotions," said Mr. Liu Chaojun, Director of the Chaohui Psychological Studio at Kangning Hospital.

Mr. Gong Benhong, Director of the Psychology Department at Kangning Hospital, also stated: "Some passengers originally did not want to recall the escape process, but they were constantly questioned by others." Many volunteer caregivers reflected that the psychological states of some injured passengers had changed, requiring further psychological assistance and intervention.

What do the injured need most now? "Patience," said Mr. Liu Chaojun, "Although the psychological assistance difficulty for some injured passengers has increased, this cannot be rushed." The hospital can only dispatch volunteers to care for injured passengers without any family care. Fortunately, almost all the injured now have family and friends by their side, with flowers and fruits filling their bedside tables. "After experiencing heart-stopping moments and various 'harassments,' we need to give them space," said Mr. Liu Chaojun.

Every injured passenger interviewed by psychological counselors will receive a "gentle question": "After discharge, would you be willing to participate in a group interview?" Then the counselors leave their contact information, "in case they feel psychological needs after discharge, they know who to seek help from." One of the tasks for Mr. Liu Chaojun and Mr. Gong Benhong's teams will be organizing group interviews, gathering survivors who have experienced the same "collision horror" to chat casually, using professional methods to resolve their potential "knots."

During interviews, reporters discovered that some local psychological aid providers are still volunteers, some of whom have not undergone rigorous psychological aid training, limiting their psychological help for the injured to mere comfort. There is an urgent shortage of qualified psychological aid professionals locally. Should this become one of the key focuses during the post-accident handling phase?

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