It was 40 minutes past midnight. The telephone rang suddenly, breaking the silence in the command center of the Tianjin Port Group Corporation. At the other side of the line --- the search and rescue centre under the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration --- workers reported an incident at an estuary of the Yongdingxin River. Because of the cold wave, four boats got trapped in the floating ice. Since there was no heating on the boats, people onboard could die of hypothermia.
Time is life, as people cannot survive long in cold weather. A high-powered icebreaker --- the Tianjin Port One --- was immediately sent to the rescue.
When the rescue team rushed to the scene, they were shocked by what they saw. “There was floating ice everywhere in the sea. Some pieces were big; some were small,” recalled Zhang Jingsheng, a team member. “The communication equipment on the boat had been damaged. So we could not find them on the e-map. There were only some faint dots on the radar and we could not trace their exact location. ”
The clock ticked. After more than an hour, the first boat was finally found. Then, the three other boats. People onboard were already numb of hands and feet.
In no time, theicebreakerwent into operation and four boats broke away from the floating ice and went back to port. In the meantime, one boat lost power and was trapped again.Tianjin Port One reversed and helped the boat out again.
At 6 o 'clock in the morning, all ten people set foot on land. The icebreaker and its staff helped to open the route in the sea and the path to life.