It was a harrowing scene. More than 80 people fell into the churning river below when a storm caused four tourist boats to capsize. Once again, the sea (or in this case a river) showed why she is a cruel mistress.
A sudden storm caused high winds to kick up, which was too much for the boats in the area. It sent the ships sideways and people into the drink. The incident happened at a popular tourist spot in China. Specifically, the storm struck through the Guizhou province on late Sunday, according to New York Post.
The storm caused heavy rain, hail, and strong winds to hit the Wu River. What was a peaceful outing for tourists soon turned into nightmare fuel. A video made the rounds online showed the immediate aftermath. A man attempted to perform CPR on another person, who had drowned. Meanwhile, one of the tourist boats floated by in the background upside down.
Tourist Boats Capsize
The exact number of tourists involved remains in flux as did the number of tourist boats. Initially, reports said that only two tourist boats had capsized. However, later reports mentioned that it had actually been four boats that capsized in total. However, those latter two boats didn't have any passengers. Instead, it was only crew members, and all the crew members on both boats were able to save themselves.
The same thing couldn't be said about the other two boats. At least 10 people are dead. Each boat held a maximum capacity of 40 people. According to reports, the boats were fortunately not overloaded with extra people.
The capsizing came during a five-day national holiday in China. The tourist boats are frequent in the region with the river and mountains drawing people from miles around. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke out about the tragedy. He called for the missing to be found. Meanwhile, at least 70 people ended up at the hospital. Fortunately, most of these suffered only minor injuries.
Incidents like this highlight the unpredictability of nature. The weather can turn on you in a dime. Ultimately, no one was expecting a tragedy like this to occur.
