Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 139 - 117: The Difficult Search and Rescue

Chapter 139: Chapter 117: The Difficult Search and Rescue

The river was too wide, and dawn had not yet arrived. The fog had not completely lifted, and the searchlight couldn’t penetrate very far, let alone a flashlight.

Zhu Baogen and Liang Xiaoyu, though dressed in firefighting gear, could not withstand the high winds and rough waves, their clothes underneath already drenched, their faces ashen with cold and unable to speak.

Han Yu used the loudhailer to notify them to return to the engine room, considering that their hands and feet were probably already numb from the cold, it was too dangerous to unhook their safety ropes by themselves, so he asked Director Jin to go out and fetch them.

Age spares no one; Captain Wang couldn’t hold out anymore either, so Han Yu quickly directed him to go down to the crew cabin below the command center to rest.

As for Director Wang, just keep him tied to the bunk in the crew cabin.

Now they needed to search for the sailors overboard from the coal transport ship while ensuring the safety of 001 and its crew; they simply couldn’t attend to him.

With no one on the lookout, even if there was, nothing could be seen clearly.

The only thing to do now was to turn on the warning lights, sound the alarm, and at the same time pay attention to any lights on the water.

If the coal transport ship had already lost control as analyzed by the Port Supervision Bureau Traffic Control Center and the crew had been prepared to abandon ship, they should have taken corresponding measures before falling into the water.

Like wearing life jackets and holding onto life rings.

Like lowering the Iron Dinghy.

Or carrying whistles or waterproof flashlights.

...

As Han Yu was calculating according to the time of man overboard, the speed of the current, and the wind speed, that the casualties could have only drifted to this area of water, Director Jin opened the door of the pilot house from outside, and a gust of cold wind followed.

"Director Jin, are Uncle Zhu and Xiao Yu alright?"

"Their faces are frozen purple, and their snot’s frozen too. Luckily, it’s cold outside, but the engine room is very hot. They’ve recovered now and are changing their clothes."

"That’s good."

"Salted Fish, our Traffic Control Center has notified all contactable ships in the vicinity to look out for any overboard personnel on the river."

"Then, I’ll get the signal from the large radio into here."

Han Yu reached out to flip a switch.

The large radio had previously been installed in the first level command cabin. Considering it was not very convenient, like extending a telephone extension, speakers and transceivers were installed in the pilot house.

They could hear incoming calls and converse with the other party, but could not change the communication frequency.

"You steer the boat and watch the river surface, and I’ll monitor the water depth and radar."

Director Jin very tacitly pulled up the thick velvet curtains, propped up the fallen chair, and sat in the corner, closely watching both the radar and computer monitor of the Water Depth Detector.

The curtains were made at the same time as the computer monitor covers. There was no use for them during the day, but they were very useful at night.

Without them, the light from the radar and computer monitors would prevent the helmsman from seeing outside clearly.

With someone else observing, and no reflections, Han Yu felt much better. He gently manipulated the steering wheel, staring intently at the river surface, "Director Jin, we’re not heading east anymore. We’ll just search for casualties in this area of water."

"Alright, now we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate."

"Director Jin, the crew on Hexiang 9 said they vaguely saw a lifeboat. Could they have seen it wrong?"

"Who knows? The fog was thick then, and the visibility was low."

"Judging from the proportions of that sunken ship, it should be an inland river cargo ship. It looks like it’s of no small tonnage, probably about two thousand tons, but inland river ships seldom have lifeboats, normally only equipped with one or two Iron Dinghys."

"So I think they probably had visual illusions, or it was just a misperception."

"Misperception?"

"They are themselves a sea-going vessel, so the first thing they think of in an emergency is survival. They have lifeboats themselves, so it’s easy to mistakenly assume others do too."

After some thought, Han Yu patted the steering wheel, "Life is paramount, we’d rather believe it to be true."

Director Jin yawned and looked up, "Aren’t we on a search and rescue mission? We haven’t given up."

Han Yu weighed his options and resolutely said, "Director Jin, the visibility is much better now than before. Set the radar scanning radius to the minimum."

"Salted Fish, do you mean to use the radar to search?"

"Let’s give it a try, maybe we can scan something."

"But then we won’t be able to see the distant ships!"

"I’ll be careful. Besides, we’ve turned on the warning lights and sounded the alarm."

"Okay, be careful."

When the radar scanning radius was set to the minimum, the screen showed a detailed display of the 800-meter radius around 001 as the center.

First, one needs to identify where the riverbank is, which bright spots are the riverbank facilities and ships moored at the riverbank, which are navigational markers, and which are passing ships...

Then by a process of elimination, determine which bright spots might be people who have fallen into the water.

But radar scans in circles; when it scans this area, one can see this area, but as it moves on, the image gradually disappears. There’s no reference to compare the before and after, so one can only rely on memory, unlike the intuitive scanning of a Water Depth Detector.

Outside, the wind howled and the waves crashed, causing the ship to rise and fall, pitch, and toss.

Director Jin also felt seasick, already feeling dizzy and heavy-headed, but for the sake of search and rescue, he could only pinch his temples and keep his eyes fixated on the radar screen.

Han Yu felt the same discomfort, but no matter how difficult it was, he had to persevere.

Steering 001 in wide circles on the broad river’s surface, while focusing on avoiding collisions with passing ships, and watching for any possible signs of overboard personnel, be it gleams of light or shadows.

Unconsciously, it was five in the morning.

Just when he could no longer bear it and was about to use the walkie-talkie to call for Captain Wang to come up and take over, Captain Wang’s call came through the walkie-talkie.

"Salted Fish, Salted Fish, we’re running low on fuel, we can’t make it back if we keep circling."

"Captain Wang, you’re up?"

"Just got up, soaked some bread slices, you want some?"

"I’ll go soak my own later."

"The fuel is really running low!"

Although they only set out seven hours ago, going against the wind and waves is not like normal cruising, and fuel consumption is astonishingly high.

Han Yu didn’t want to come out for a rescue, for fear that they might end up needing a rescue themselves. He turned his head and asked, "Director Jin, ask your colleagues on shore if there’s a fuel station nearby."

"Okay."

"Captain Wang, we search and rescue until dawn. Even if there are no fuel stations nearby, we can refuel at Dacang Port on our way back."

"Fine, I’ll come up and relieve you after I finish eating."

"Thanks, Captain Wang. Honestly, I can’t hold on much longer."

Han Yu put down the walkie-talkie. Just as Jin Weiguo was about to get up and head to the command cabin on the first floor to contact his colleagues onshore using the big radio, a sudden call came through the speakers of the radio that had been newly installed a few days ago.

"Traffic Control Center calling Linghai Police 001, Traffic Control Center calling Linghai Police 001, please respond if you receive this message."

"Linghai Police 001 received, go ahead Traffic Control Center!"

"Zhehuo 1089 going upstream reported that they vaguely saw a sea liner’s liferaft nearby buoy number 98!"

"Linghai Police 001 received, over!"

"The latest weather forecast indicates that the wind strength on the river surface near you has not decreased, please pay attention to safety."

"Received, thank you."

As long as it’s a liferaft, whether or not it’s from the coal-carrying ship, they had to rush to rescue immediately.

Because if there are people on the liferaft and you don’t go to rescue, the liferaft will drift along with the current and eventually out to sea.

The chances of survival for people drifting on the river are relatively higher, but once they drift into the boundless sea, the possibility of encountering passing ships is extremely slim.

Even if there’s no one on the liferaft, if they don’t rescue, it might drift and collide with other ships.

In case it gets caught in another ship’s propeller, it could cause damage to their propulsion system or even the rudder, leading to new maritime emergencies.

Buoy 98 is upstream, and 001 isn’t far from there.

Han Yu immediately adjusted the course and told Jin Weiguo to set the radar to the normal scanning radius.

After Captain Wang finished eating bread slices soaked in boiling water, he climbed up and squeezed in to ask, "Salted Fish, are we returning to base?"

"We’re not returning, the Traffic Control Center reported seeing a sea liner’s liferaft downstream of buoy number 98."

"Oh, I’ll steer, you go down and rest for a bit."

"Buoy number 98 is right ahead, I’m going down to call Uncle Zhu and Xiao Yu, get ready for rescue."

"Alright, it’s windy outside, be careful."

"I know."

Han Yu handed over the helm to Captain Wang, tied the safety rope around his waist and said, "Director Jin, keep an eye on the radar and water depth, you don’t need to go down."

Jin Weiguo had a splitting headache, he’d rather go down to catch a cold wind than to stare at two monitors.

But with visibility so low, navigation safety is more important than anything, so he could only grit his teeth and say, "Okay."

Facing the piercing cold wind, Han Yu held the ice-cold railing and carefully made his way to the engine room door.

Liang Xiaoyu had already recovered and was sitting eating soaked bread slices, looked up and asked, "Salted Fish, do you want some?"

"Eat quickly, we’re about to rescue."

"Did we find those who fell into the river?"

"We’re rescuing a liferaft, not sure if it’s those people." Seeing that Zhu Baogen had finished eating, Han Yu said anxiously, "Uncle Zhu, let’s go get the bracket and set up the block and tackle."

"Okay!"

Zhu Baogen quickly came around and hurried out of the engine room.

What they called a bracket was a small crane arm welded from steel pipes. Initially, they hadn’t considered installing a crane, after all, 001 was too small with neither the space nor the need for one.

A while ago, Master Ding and Zhang Lan, when settling accounts with the shipyard, found a few moderately sized steel plates which seemed a waste to sell as scrap. Seeing that other boats all had an "Iron Dinghy" (small iron boat), they had Boss Wu instruct his workers to weld one.

Considering that it wasn’t safe to tow it like a tugboat at the stern, Han Yu simply asked Boss Wu to weld a detachable crane arm with steel pipes, and added a set of block and tackle. This way, they could use the crane arm to lift the Iron Dinghy onto the aft deck or lower it from the aft deck into the water.

Unexpectedly, the Iron Dinghy’s paint wasn’t dry yet and hadn’t been lifted onto the boat, but the accompanying crane arm came in handy first.

The two took out the steel pipes, first secured the safety rope to ensure their own safety, then squatted on the deck to hurriedly assemble.

By the time Liang Xiaoyu finished his bread slices and rushed to the aft deck, the crane arm had been assembled.

Just as Han Yu was deciding whether to install it on the port or starboard side, he heard Jin Weiguo shouting through the loudspeaker, "Salted Fish, I see the liferaft, about three hundred meters ahead on the port side!"

"I can’t see it."

Han Yu shouted that he couldn’t see it, but Jin Weiguo couldn’t hear him, excitedly saying through his binoculars, "There seems to be someone on the raft, hurry up and get ready, I’m coming down."

Liang Xiaoyu, holding the railing, looked out over the river and muttered, "Salted Fish, I can’t see it either."

"You’ll see it in a bit, get to work first!"

"Oh.