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Accidents and disasters in China
ChinaScience

‘China’s real-life transformer’: new rescue tech used in dramatic flood evacuation

Rapid-deployment, heavy-duty pontoon barge deployed to ferry 6,000 stranded people from flooded college in southern China

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A foldable, self-propelled pontoon barge helped Chinese rescuers ferry 6,000 students and teachers to safety after Guangxi Logistics Vocational and Technical College in Guigang was flooded. Photo: X@SpoxCHN_MaoNing
Carol Yangin Beijing

It is part-boat, part-bridge and part-life raft – and in the massive floods in southern China, it has been all rescue vehicle.

The foldable, self-propelled pontoon barge has emerged as a powerful new tool in the response to the disaster, used to rescue thousands of people trapped by rising waters in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

One of the biggest rescue operations took place last week at the Guangxi Logistics Vocational and Technical College in Guigang, where more than 6,000 staff and students were cut off by floodwaters nearly 5 metres (16.4 feet) deep, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Rescuers marshal students in the evacuation operation. Photo: X@SpoxCHN_MaoNing
Rescuers marshal students in the evacuation operation. Photo: X@SpoxCHN_MaoNing

Before the barges arrived, rescuers relied mainly on inflatable and assault boats to reach those stranded but the going was slow, with only a small number of people taken out at a time.

Then, China Anneng Construction Group, a state-owned emergency rescue force, deployed three of the heavy-duty barges to the mission from last Wednesday night to Thursday.

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Chinese self-propelled pontoon barge deployed for rescue work in flood-stricken Guangxi

The speed picked up immediately and by midday on Thursday, all the students and teachers were on dry ground, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The pontoon barge deployed in the Guigang rescue is about 60 metres long and 8 metres wide, with a total load capacity exceeding 60 tonnes. It could transport more than 500 people in a single trip, China Anneng said in a post on Zhihu, China’s Quora-like platform.
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