Flowers laid at Zhengzhou metro station for flood victims

An endless stream of residents in central China’s Zhengzhou city came to the Shakoulu metro station and laid flowers on July 27, mourning for the 14 victims who lost their lives therein during the flood one week ago. Chinese folks have the tradition of paying tributes to the dead on seven weekly occasions following their death. 

"Girl, I’d like to take you home once more,” said a sad father, unable to accept the fact that his daughter could no longer come back home. The father knelt down, while praying for the girl at the station where Line 5 of Zhengzhou Metro passes through.

A user of Toutiao news app said his sister, a sales girl, took the Line 5 metro train to meet him after work. Having missed his sister’s call at 5:52 pm that day, he received a short message: “Weak signal and just wait a minute at the metro entrance. The train has come to a temporary stop.” It turned out to be the final message from his sister.

When the brother eventually saw his sister at the mortuary, she was still in light blue jeans and white sneakers, but the body had become stiff and the mouth was full of foam.

37-year-old Zou Deqiang was in Zhengzhou on a business trip from Shanghai and was among the commuters trapped inside the metro carriage. Zou's wife, surnamed Bai, reached Zhengzhou when she heard that Zou was not among the 500 passengers rescued from the station.

"Zou Deqiang has never let me down!" Bai told a reporter. Unfortunately, search and rescue efforts on the July 25 morning found an unidentified body in the tunnel, and DNA tests confirmed it to be Zou.

As the flood faded away, life of Zhengzhou residents was returning back to normal step by step. While mourning for those flood victims, we need to think hard over the possible safety loopholes in city management to avoid similar tragedies.

In case of emergencies, natural disasters and other safety threats, metro-operation units should swiftly suspend the operation of some sections or the entire network as per the regulations, and activate contingency plans in time, said a video conference held by the central government on July 26.

Source: WeChat and Shine.cn; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue