A TRADITIONAL dragon boat festival in Hunan turned into tragedy last week when a dam gate was opened, dragging a boat into a reservoir and killing 11 participants.
The accident happened on Wednesday in Mayang county when farmers gathered for the annual boat races to commemorate Qu Yuan, a national hero of the 3rd century BC, who committed suicide by jumping into a Hunan river to protest against corrupt government.
A crew of 61 paddlers had just boarded their boat when the dam at the Jinhe hydraulic power station opened about 100 metres downriver, a spokesman for the Mayang county Government said. The flow sucked the boat through the sluice gate and swallowed it within a minute, he said.
When the boat surfaced later that day, it was broken in two and all the paddlers were missing.
Eleven drowned, all aged between 20 and 30. The other 50 farmers were rescued along the river by yesterday morning.
The government spokesman said warnings had gone out to alert people that the dam would be opened.