Final heroic trek forged in mud, sweat

Fateful day

At 5 am on July 14, before dawn had broken, Dang and more than 30 fellow volunteers set out from Wuli to deliver supplies to Heyuan.

A video filmed before their departure shows volunteers loading supplies into Dang's new backpack.

When they thought it was full they said, "We can go now."

Dang adjusted the backpack and motioned for them to add more. After five more cucumbers were packed in, his voice can be heard in the final seconds of the video telling them to add "a little more".

According to Huang, the supplies included cabbage, winter melon, rice, chopsticks, toothbrushes and medicine. Given the humid weather and road conditions, each person carried no more than 15 kilograms.

Guo Xiaolin, captain of the Meishan emergency rescue volunteer association, participated in a nearby relief effort. He told media that the temperature was around 35 C that day. Though there was no direct sunlight, the humid, stuffy air made it hard to breathe. Intermittent rain in the mountains added to the moisture. People were drenched in sweat even standing still.

"The road was badly hit by landslides — muddy and slippery — with many flooded sections where the water reached knee level," Guo said.

Selfies from Dang's phone show him drenched in sweat. Another image shows him and other volunteers lying on the ground resting, with their shoes and legs caked in soil.

The team walked for about six hours, crossing several mountains, before finally reaching the flood-isolated village around noon.

After unloading the supplies and having some porridge prepared by the villagers, the volunteers collapsed on the ground to rest for a while before beginning their return journey. Before leaving, Dang drew a heart in the mud.

It was on the return trek that Dang's condition took a turn for the worse.

According to police reports, when Dang and his companions reached Tangtou village in Sanli town, he suddenly felt dizzy. He rested for a while, but after walking another 300 meters, he fell unconscious. His companions performed CPR while waiting for an ambulance.

Due to severe road damage, the ambulance could not reach him quickly. By the time medical personnel reached him on foot, Dang's pupils were dilated and his heart had stopped.

He could not be revived. The cause of death was listed as heart failure brought on by extreme exhaustion.

Yang Song, a deputy railway station master who accompanied Dang's father to the site, said he learned from fellow volunteers that Dang had felt physically depleted during their trek. His companions urged him to rest, but he insisted on continuing so as not to hold up the group.

Ma said after more than four hours of walking, Dang's body might have already been struggling to cope.

The last message he sent to Ma was: "Someone else is carrying my backpack for me."

Seeing that his friend, who was always the one to help others, now needed assistance himself, Ma asked, "Can't carry it anymore?"

He never received a reply.