On July 4, a loader filled the dangerous pit with waste materials. Yaxin Net reporter Zhang Wand photographed it. On July 2, the mother of the child who suffered burns on both feet recounted the situation at the edge of the already buried large pit. Yaxin Net reporter Zhang Wand photographed it. On May 28, the severely burned child was still receiving treatment in the hospital. Yaxin Net reporter Zhang Wand photographed it. According to Yaxin Net (reporter Wang Qianxi, intern Liu Ruirui, photos provided by Zhang Zhen), for 12 days, Zhang Zhen and her family have been taking turns caring for their 12-year-old son Hao Hao (a pseudonym) being treated at the burn and plastic surgery department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University. "Is that pit a 'fire' pit? Why were my son's feet so badly burned after falling into it?" Zhang Zhen couldn't figure it out.
It was this "fire" pit that had caused three people to fall in and get burned over the past year. One of them, a 17-year-old boy, fell in on May 28 and is still hospitalized, staying in the same ward as Hao Hao.
All three victims suffered burns.
On July 12, 12-year-old Hao Hao lay in bed with his feet wrapped in bandages. He said that at 9:30 PM on July 2, he and his friends ran to a large pit about 1.5 kilometers from home near the Urumqi Hualing Animal Husbandry Base to play. When he ran down the slope toward the pit, he suddenly sank into the "ash" at the bottom of the pit.
"At that moment, I felt a burning sensation below my calves, so I quickly ran back," said Hao Hao. He returned to the edge of the pit, endured the pain, walked about 200 meters to the road, and hailed a taxi to go home.
"When I heard my son calling me to pay for the taxi fare at the door, I was very confused. But when I went out, I saw that the skin on the sole of his right foot was almost detached, and large blisters on his left foot were dripping water..." Zhang Zhen said. She hurriedly took her son to the nearest hospital, but since they didn't know what substance had caused the burns, the hospital couldn't prescribe appropriate treatment. The next day, Hao Hao was transferred to the current hospital.
At the hospital, Zhang Zhen learned that before her son, two other people had been harmed by that pit. The first child was burned last autumn and recovered after nearly two months of treatment at home; the second one, Xiao Mai (a pseudonym), fell in on May 28. Due to severe injuries, he has undergone four surgeries and is still undergoing treatment, staying in the same ward as Hao Hao.
On Xiao Mai's bedside card, it showed "second-degree, third-degree burns, covering an area of 28%." It was understood that Xiao Mai is from Turpan and came to work at a precast panel factory near the big pit in April this year. On May 28, while urinating in the pit, he sank into the "ash" at the bottom of the pit. While running towards the edge of the pit, he fell again, resulting in burns on both feet and hands.
"Whoever is responsible should bear the responsibility."
On July 12, the reporter followed Zhang Zhen to the Huailing Animal Husbandry Base near Mi Dongnan Road in Urumqi City. The deep injurious pit falls under the jurisdiction of this base. The pit is about 8 meters deep with a diameter of at least 50 meters. There are two warning signs saying "Deep Pit, Dangerous" at the edge of the pit, and there are some traces left by bulldozers above the pit.
"These days, someone has started filling the pit with sand and soil," Zhang Zhen said while showing the pictures she asked someone to take of the pit bottom scene after the incident. The date shown in the picture is "July 4, 2010". In the picture, the bottom of the pit is surrounded by gray-black substances, and there are some white and rust-red substances near the center of the pit.
Subsequently, the reporter met a staff member of the Huailing Animal Husbandry Base. After learning the purpose of the reporter, she said, "If something happens, whoever is responsible should bear the responsibility. If we are responsible, we will definitely take responsibility."
It was introduced that this place was planned as the Huailing Animal Husbandry Base in 2003. Before that, it was a barren land where the previous unit left behind more than a hundred large pits due to sand and gravel mining. Currently, most of the pits have been filled.
"After someone got burned in the pit, we added wire nets around the big pit, but within a few days, the wire nets and rebars were stolen. After several times, we couldn't do anything about it," she said. After the incident, they used bulldozers to fill the pit.
What is in the "fire" pit? A mystery!
As for what kind of substance is in the pit, this staff member helplessly said that the unit did not dump any substances into the pit after moving in, and they also don't know what it is.
Hao Hao's attending physician Zhao Yang introduced that the patient suffered from 8% second-degree burns all over his body and could be cured and discharged within a week. As for what substance caused Hao Hao's burns, the doctor said that it cannot be determined solely based on the injury, "it needs to be tested by relevant departments to find out."
Zhang Zhen stated that she does not rule out using legal means to protect her son's legitimate rights and interests, and she must find out what is at the bottom of the pit.