Missing girl on beach: The other side of 'wild beach'
At 19:00 on the evening of October 5, Jin Qi was leading the Shanghai Shanfeng Rescue Team on the Nanhui New Town Beach in Shanghai, walking on the embankment with a flashlight. The sea breeze roared, and he used the light to check every corner, looking for a girl named Huang Yuanxin. At this time, 24 hours had passed since she lost contact.
One day ago, Wang Wei was playing on this beach. The sky darkened at 18:00. When she returned to the shore from the sea, she vaguely heard the missing person broadcast, but it was quickly drowned in the wind, waves and laughter.
At about 18:40 on October 4, a couple went to the Lingang New City Police Station of the Pudong Public Security Bureau for help, saying that their 4-year-old daughter was lost while playing at the beach.
At 4:00 pm on October 6, based on the Shanghai Pudong District police report, a suspected girl was found among the nearly 100 people in the image. After waiting for about 10 minutes, she walked towards the water and fell down by the water. Then disappeared into the waves.
As of noon on October 7, relevant departments responded that the missing girl’s family was from her original family, and there was no case of a missing girl. The reporter contacted Shanghai Maritime University and learned that the Maritime University currently has two hydrology experts participating in the dispatch meeting on the morning of the 7th to participate in the formulation of the rescue plan.
The rescue is still continuing, but behind the incident of the missing girl, there are safety concerns about "wild beaches". Under the calm sea, there are unpredictable dangers to life.
Photos of the day taken by tourists. Photo provided by interviewee
On October 5, the Shanghai Shanfeng Rescue Team received a mission from the Emergency Management Bureau and arrived at Nanhui New City Beach at 3 p.m. Captain Zhang Shanfeng and instructor Leng Zhiming said that there were 25 to 35 people in the rescue team. They first maintained a guard position of 5 meters apart to prevent tourists from going down to the beach. There were also loudspeakers playing at the scene: "There is a water drill today and tourists are prohibited from entering."
Jin Qi, the leader of the water search and rescue team, said that the rescue team brought 5 drones, 2 assault boats, an AED machine, and a thermal imaging sensor. The drone flew up for observation first, and then the rescue team used artificial flashlights and human eyes to patrol between the I-shaped embankments and on the beach, about 300 to 500 meters away, to see if there was any conspicuous blue color, and what the girl was wearing when she went missing. .
"The gap in the dam is large, and a child's size can easily get stuck in it," Jin Qi said. An adult can step into the I-shaped stone gap. If a child falls, he or she may be washed into the gap by a big wave.
When the tide receded on the 4th, the waves were about 100 meters away from the rescue team, but the sea wind was strong and the rescue team's assault boat did not launch. Jin Qi recalled that the muddy beach was very soft due to the influence of the tide. When he stepped on it, it was about half a meter deep, almost reaching the knees of his calves. "It's too delicate and easy to collapse. Unless the sun comes out to dry the mud, the hardness will be higher."
Photo provided by Shanfeng Rescue Team searching for and rescuing interviewees on the beach
Photo provided by Shanfeng Rescue Team searching for and rescuing interviewees on the beach
Jin Qi saw Huang Yuanxin's mother and grandmother at the scene. The two went to the police station to check the surveillance. They usually ran back and forth at the beach waiting for news from the rescue team.
"They were very anxious and couldn't say anything." Jin Qi sighed. The two kept describing the child's clothing and body shape. Every time they saw the rescue team, the mother would cry and thank her. The team members did not dare to ask any more questions.
For two days, rescue teams conducted search and rescue missions after low tide. At 8 pm on the 6th, the Shanfeng rescue team left Xincheng Beach. On the 7th, it has not received instructions from the Emergency Management Bureau.
Jin Qi pointed out that the prime time for rescue is 72 hours, especially in water areas. If it is on land, such as reed swamps, there is still some hope for search and rescue.
The rescue team has encountered many water rescue operations before. In January this year, an old man was washed away by the current while fishing. "If someone goes missing at the beach, the Coast Guard will basically be dispatched. If the area is relatively large, the local emergency management bureau will be contacted and a rescue team will be organized to search and rescue."
At 5:33 on October 4, Wang Wei and his party were playing at Xincheng Beach. In the scenery photo she took casually, there happened to be a girl in a blue skirt who looked like Huang Yuanxin.
The "suspicious" picture taken by Wang Wei was provided by the interviewee.
Not long ago, Wang Wei searched for "catch the sea" on Xiaohongshu and chose Nanhui Xincheng Beach among a series of recommendations.
She recalled that there were many protective measures and staff guarding the road into the beach, and there were high guardrails next to it. She and her friends climbed over a wall and took nearly an hour to get to the beach. When they left, the guard box was open and they could go out directly.
"The silt beach is very slippery, and the stones along the road are a bit high." It was already dark at 6 o'clock. Wang Wei waded back to the shore from the silt beach little by little in the dark. He would stumble if he was not careful. At this time, she vaguely heard the sound of a missing person broadcast.
"The radio also said that the seaside is dangerous, please come ashore quickly." The sea breeze shouted, and Wang Wei could only hear some content when he got closer. She said she did not notice whether there were safety warning signs on the beach at the time.
Jin Qi came to Xincheng Beach for the first time. He said the "wall" tourists were referring to was the stone embankment above the beach. When going to the beach, you need to walk about 200 meters to the embankment after parking your car. Only nearly 10 meters of it is flat road, and the rest of the road is made of small stones and is uneven. The embankment consists of four to five rows of I-shaped stacks of stones that can be climbed.
Jin Qi saw that even though there were 50 to 80-meter railings at the site and were guarded by rescue teams, many tourists were still seen on the beach. "Some people go down the path, and some people climb over the embankment." Many of these tourists arrive at the beach 3 to 4 hours before low tide, wait until sunset, and then go to the sea after low tide.
He emphasized that it is also dangerous for rescue team members to walk down the I-shaped embankment. If you don’t wear non-slip shoes on the muddy beach, you may easily injure your knees and thighs.
Another tourist said that Xincheng Beach is now a "popular" time. You have to queue up at the entrance and exit, and you have to wait in line for half an hour to wash your feet after taking off your shoes. However, there is a tide schedule for the place where the beach goes into the sea. "Generally it is We went there during the day, but it’s too cold at night at the beach and it’s not safe.”
Wang Wei saw many stone piles nearby. Photo provided by interviewee
Zhou Ting just moved to Lingang this year. She said there are two "wild" beaches nearby, Xincheng and Nanhuizui. What impressed her deeply was that when she went to Nanhuizui in August this year, some intersections were blocked by barbed wire fences and there was no way to go. But there were so many tourists that some tourists opened a hole in the middle of the barbed wire fence, got in one after another, and then climbed over the embankment and entered the beach.
"This year, many people have come to Hong Kong's beaches to take pictures of the sea views." In her opinion, this place is not a tourist attraction and has not been developed well. There are many construction trucks near the beach, and the road in is "sometimes a mess". Trash, no one cleans it up. But every time she goes to play, "the beach is full of people, always densely packed."
Zhou Ting recalled that she and her friends were walking on the stone road on the beach. It was the high tide at noon. She watched the sea water rising up from the shallower area, almost covering the large stone more than one meter high. Zhou Ting hurriedly retreated, and she saw that there were still many tourists staying in the same place. Many of them had gone far away, more than 100 meters from the shore. After returning to the shore, she heard a loudspeaker shouting that the tide was dangerous and asking everyone to stay away from the coast. She feels that these reminders do serve as a warning, but are not mandatory or binding.
"Queue up, where is anyone queuing up?" Zhou Ting said with a smile. There was no order in and out of the two beaches. "It's quite chaotic."
In recent years, "Catch the Sea" has become popular on major social platforms. At the same time, safety risks and environmental damage have also emerged.
Some tourists and experts suggested that in addition to adding more safety facilities and personnel supervision near relevant locations, it is more important to let more people understand marine knowledge, cultivate safety awareness, and not blindly "rush to the sea".
