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▲The fishing boat found the oxygen cylinder of the suspected missing person

Half a month has passed since his father went missing, and Xiaolin and his family are still searching. "We have made the worst plan. We want to find him alive or dead." On June 29, a boat departed from Daya Bay, Huizhou, Guangdong, and headed for Shenzhen. After receiving a diving team of four people, it returned to the waters of Daqingzhen, Huizhou. The four divers subsequently lost contact. As of press time, only one person was rescued and the body of one person was salvaged ashore. The diving coach and Xiaolin's father, Lin Weixiong, have not been found yet.

Lin Weixiong's family members believe that this accident is full of doubts: Does the Shenzhen diving club that organized the event have the relevant qualifications? Does the carrier ship have the corresponding qualifications? Does the equipment provided to the diving team meet the requirements?

In response to the above questions, the Emergency Management Bureau of Huidong County, Huizhou City, replied to the Red Star News reporter that a relevant investigation team has been set up to conduct an investigation, and it is not convenient to disclose the specific situation for the time being.

Survivor memories:

The coach called for help alone, while the team members floated together

At 3 pm on July 1, the first survivor of the missing persons was found about 150 kilometers southeast of the incident waters.

Video footage from the rescue site showed that the survivor was conscious when he was rescued. Red Star News reporters learned from Xiaolin and other family members that the survivor had communicated with the families of other missing persons while going to the hospital for treatment, and recounted the situation before and after the diving team lost contact: After completing the dive as planned, the diving team found that they had deviated from the ship when they surfaced. The diving coach tried to call for help from the ship, but failed to attract the attention of the ship. He then took off his equipment and handed it to three team members, and swam to the ship alone for help.

According to the survivors, on the morning of July 1 when he was found, the other three team members were still floating together. The survivors told Xiao Lin that Lin Weixiong, the oldest member of the team, had been encouraging the other two until they were separated by the waves. "They were all in good spirits, they had been holding on and waiting for rescue." It is worth noting that according to the information obtained by the family members from the survivors, the diving team in this incident was not equipped with diving flashlights.

Cai Yonghua, a level 5 diving social sports instructor, told Red Star News that the emergency equipment that should be equipped when conducting diving activities generally include elephant pullers (surface signal buoys) and diving flashlights. The former is a stick-shaped buoyancy device mainly in red, orange and yellow. It is easy to distinguish on the sea surface during the day because of its bright colors, while the latter can attract the attention of passing ships at night.

Just a year ago, on July 9, 2023, another incident of five people losing contact while diving occurred in Huizhou waters. According to China News Network, at 11:05 p.m. that day, a ship discovered "suspicious lights" on the sea, and then found the five missing people floating in a group.

Regarding the configuration of diving emergency equipment and emergency plans, Cai Yonghua introduced that there will be relevant assessments when obtaining the diving coach qualification issued by the State General Administration of Sport. "As long as every coach passes professional learning and the more authoritative training of the State General Administration of Sport in China, he will definitely know what the plan is, what to do in case of such a situation, how to gather the team members together, how to escape, and how to wait for rescue. There are plans for all these."

When the reporter asked Xiao Lin and other family members of Lin Weixiong to contact the survivor to learn more about the situation, they were told that the survivor had been treated and had lost contact with the other families of the missing. The reporter then asked the relevant staff of Huidong County Government responsible for releasing information about the incident to interview the survivor, but they refused on the grounds that it was not within their authority.

The "disappeared" club

The club involved has not been able to be contacted

In the memory of Xiao Lin's sister, Ms. Lin, her father was a "strongly planned person". He loved sports and would go diving once or twice a year. Before leaving this time, Lin Weixiong simply greeted his family as usual. "It was a very casual conversation, just a greeting and telling where we were going to dive tomorrow." Ms. Lin's tone was full of regret, "We didn't ask him again in time."

Xiaolin also knew very little about her father's diving experience. Her father never told them in detail which club he joined or what the specific itinerary was. According to Xiaolin's recollection, she and her family learned some information about the club from the survivors after they were rescued. But as of press time, the family members have not been able to get in touch with the club involved.

▲Online account claiming to be a staff member of the club involved

Xiao Lin told Red Star News that the survivor revealed that he learned about the diving activities of the club through a social networking platform and then signed up to participate. Following this clue, the reporter found an online account of a person claiming to be a staff member of the diving club, and the main content posted by the account was related to diving and travel.

The reporter sent a private message to the above account, expressing his wish to learn more about the club, but never received a response. Through the comment section of the account, the reporter contacted several users who were suspected of participating in the club's diving activities. Only one person replied that "it's not their company, I don't know", and the rest did not respond.

▲The club’s office is closed due to renovations

Through Tianyancha, the reporter obtained the reserved phone number and office address of the diving club involved. The relevant phone was always turned off, and the office address at the Shenzhen Sports Center was inaccessible because the Shenzhen Sports Center was under renovation. The reporter called the Shenzhen Futian District Culture, Broadcasting, Tourism and Sports Bureau to which it belongs and learned that such companies with registered addresses in Shenzhen must report to the jurisdiction of the water area for approval if they want to carry out diving activities in open waters.

According to the notice issued by Huidong on September 30, 2023, snorkeling, experience diving, free diving, etc. in the waters around Zhentou Rock (Daqingzhen) where the accident occurred, CGN Taipingling Offshore Wind Power Project, and Xiaoxingshan are all illegal and not protected by national laws and regulations. "They are the focus of investigation and crackdown."

Local authorities are cracking down on illegal "black sneaks"

Some businesses are still conducting offshore snorkeling activities despite the wind

On July 11, a Red Star News reporter pretended to be seeking travel advice and contacted several companies in Huizhou that provide cruise services. After the reporter expressed his desire to go diving, the vast majority of the companies said that they were "cracking down" and could not undertake the related activities. Some boatmen also said that the port would inspect the ships to confirm whether they were carrying diving equipment in violation of regulations, and said that "this will be taken responsibility."

During the interview, the reporter found that some businesses were still carrying out suspected illegal activities. A tour guide in Shuangyue Bay said that snorkeling can be carried out near the beach. "There are many boatmen here who pick up customers for snorkeling. They are actually nearby. If you want to go, I can arrange it. But you can't complain if you don't have fun."

▲Screenshot of a chat with a merchant who claims to be able to arrange snorkeling

The Red Star News reporter then called the Huizhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports and was told that currently all waters in Huizhou city "do not meet the conditions for diving, so there are no diving approval projects in our entire sea area." As for the offshore snorkeling mentioned by the tour guide, it is also an illegal "black diving" behavior. The operator emphasized, "We have been cracking down on this type of illegal diving. From last year to now, we have jointly banned a large number of them with the local authorities."

It is worth noting that in this incident where four people lost contact while diving, the relevant ship did not leave Huizhou with the diving equipment, but departed from Dapeng, Shenzhen, and went directly to the Daqingzhen waters for diving activities.

At 11:53 on July 9, a reporter from Red Star News verified with the Huidong County Emergency Management Bureau of Huizhou City that the vessel involved in the diving accident belongs to Daya Bay, Huizhou City. The reporter asked about the specific operator of the vessel and whether it has the corresponding qualifications to carry out diving activities. He was told that an investigation team has been set up for the incident, and the specific situation is still under investigation and cannot be disclosed to the public for the time being. At 2:58 pm on July 10, a reporter from Red Star News learned from the Huizhou Maritime Safety Administration that commercial vessels have corresponding inspection certificates, which will clearly indicate the range within which the vessel is allowed to sail. Exceeding the prescribed range is illegal operation.

In addition, Cai Yonghua told reporters that vessels engaged in diving activities need to obtain qualifications issued by the China Water Ski, Diving and Powerboat Sports Federation. According to his understanding, even if a vessel has the above qualifications, it must report and apply to the relevant departments to carry out corresponding commercial activities. "If you charge fees for business activities, you must bear legal responsibilities. If you take others out, you must bring them back."

The family offered a reward of 500,000 yuan for clues

There is so much information every day that it is hard to tell which ones are effective.

Half a month has passed since the accident, and Lin Weixiong's family is still mobilizing all forces to search.

Ms. Lin has been following the rescue work of civilians in Shantou these days. Since the day she learned that her father had lost contact, she, her sister Xiaolin and other family members have sought help from ocean current experts and non-governmental organizations in waters where her father might have passed. On July 1, before finding any survivors, she and her family had already headed to the surrounding areas according to the experts' instructions. On July 2, a civilian ship also salvaged a body of a victim in nearby waters. In her words, "We have done everything we can."

The captain of the Shanwei Langbang Public Welfare Rescue Center, who participated in the rescue, told Red Star News that due to objective circumstances, the rescue team could not go out to sea to search and could only look for clues along the coast. A fishing boat once found an oxygen cylinder suspected to be of a missing person, but it was not possible to confirm whether it was related to the still missing Lin Weixiong and the diving instructor.

Ms. Lin told reporters that since her father did not buy personal diving equipment and could not get in touch with the survivors, the diving club or the ship involved, there is currently no way to compare and understand the specific diving equipment her father used when the accident happened. In other words, as of now, the search for Lin Weixiong and the diving coach is still at the stage where no valuable clues have been found.

Ocean current experts have analyzed to the family that according to the ocean current conditions, Lin Weixiong may enter the Fujian waters or even cross the Taiwan Strait. Ms. Lin said that she received a call from the Maritime Safety Administration on July 2, telling her that a floating corpse was found at sea. The coast guard was too far away to be dispatched, and hoped that the family could coordinate with the nearest search ship to go there, otherwise the body might sink, "Once it sinks, it will be even harder to find and salvage it."

▲Lin Weixiong's family offers a reward of 500,000 yuan for clues

In order to find Lin Weixiong, his family offered a reward of 500,000 yuan online and solicited all possible clues. After the news was announced, Ms. Lin and her family received a lot of information every day, but they had no way to tell which ones were valid and which ones were irrelevant. "The amount of clues was too large, and different events were happening in every sea area every day. We were not sure whether they matched what we were searching for, which was very difficult."

Red Star News reporter Zhou Weihao

Editor Pan Li