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Mourners pay respects to 14 subway riders who drowned after floods hit central China

  • At least 71 people perished in recent floods in Henan province, including 14 who drowned in Zhengzhou subway
  • There has been criticism of the subway authority and the use of barricades to block the view of floral tributes has been questioned

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People bow to pay their respects on Tuesday outside the entrance to a subway station in Zhengzhou where more than a dozen people died after a record-breaking downpour. Photo: AP
Associated Press
Residents on Tuesday laid bouquet after bouquet, the neatly tied yellow and white flowers standing on end, outside an entrance to a subway station in central China where 14 people died last week after a record-breaking downpour flooded large swathes of Henan province.
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Torrents of water rushed into a subway line in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, trapping a train with hundreds of passengers between two stations. The deluge drowned some and left others gasping for breath in chest-high water until emergency crews could reach them.

“I’m filled with grief,” said Zhengzhou resident Zhang Shuai, 35, who bowed three times in front of the entrance after laying a bouquet of chrysanthemums. “I hope that their relatives can recover from this tragedy as soon as possible.”

At least 71 people perished in the floods, according to an updated death toll on Tuesday. Zhengzhou authorities said 14 had died in the subway station, up from 12 reported earlier.

A crowd of about 50 people stood outside under a partly cloudy sky as streams of mourners and delivery drivers left bouquets wrapped in black paper in a rectangular area extending from the closed station entrance. Some tucked in notes, with one reading: “I hope there are no floods in heaven. Rest in peace.”

Questions have circulated about the design and safety of the Zhengzhou subway line 5, which opened just two years ago. Some relatives of those who died have criticised the Zhengzhou subway authority, accusing it of continuing to operate the trains even when it became clear it would be dangerous to do so. They said subway officials had obstructed the search for missing relatives.

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“I no longer have a husband; my daughter no longer has a father,” the wife of Sha Tao, a Zhengzhou resident who drowned in the subway, wrote on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. “If they had prepared contingency plans ahead of time, the number of deaths could have been minimised. The Zhengzhou subway must take the blame and responsibility!”

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