China News Service, Guiyang, August 14th (Ke Youchuan) - Due to continuous high temperatures and no rain in recent days, most areas of Tongren in Guizhou Province have experienced drought. In villages (villages/tribes) located at high altitudes with remote roads, the residents are facing water shortages and crops have been affected to varying degrees. In the Xianiu Village Group of Pingguan Village, Pingshan Township, Shiqian County, Guizhou Province, two villagers encountered an accident while searching for a water source to irrigate their rice fields, entering a cave over 30 meters deep.
It was reported that in order to draw water from the deep cave to irrigate the rice fields, at around 10 PM on August 13th, four villagers from the Xianiu Village Group of Pingguan Village, Pingshan Township, Shiqian County, entered the Zhaogutian Cave locally. Three of them who were unfamiliar with the terrain of the Zhaogutian Cave carried the water pump deep into the cave, but due to the thin air inside the cave, the gasoline engine burned incompletely, producing carbon monoxide gas, causing two villagers to collapse inside the cave over 30 meters deep, while one managed to escape. The villagers involved recounted that they could smell a pungent odor upon entering the cave, which made them feel dizzy and disoriented.
At 3:55 AM, after receiving the emergency call, the Shiqian fire officers quickly responded and rushed to the scene for rescue operations. Due to the extremely narrow space within the cave, with crisscrossing rocks, the rescuers had to lower their bodies and step carefully through the mud to move slowly forward. At 4:09 AM, the firefighters inside the cave discovered the first victim. At 6:25 AM, the rescue team conducted a second descent into the cave to search for the second victim, and at 6:43 AM, the body of the deceased villager was successfully retrieved from the deep cave.