Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    EIGHT tourists, including five from Shenzhen, died while rafting on a river that surged with a flash flood at the Fenghuangxia scenic area in Taishan City, a county-level city under the administration of Jiangmen City in Guangdong Province, the local government said yesterday at a news conference.

    Five people died immediately after the accident Saturday and three more bodies were found yesterday morning. Ten people were sent to a local hospital for injuries.

    The Taishan government is offering counseling to relatives of the victims and has launched an investigation into why the tourists were allowed to go rafting despite a weather warning.

    Of the five Shenzhen victims, four were natives from Henan Province and one was a native of Hunan, according to Wu Bin, vice chairman with the Shenzhen Tourism Association.

    Among the three other victims, there were an employee of the Fenghuangxia tourist spot and a local. The identity of the other victim remains unknown.

    The Fenghuangxia scenic area has been closed and the operator is in police custody, according to the government.

    A tourist surnamed Zeng, who was receiving treatment at a local hospital, said 19 people from his company, Shenzhen Hecheng Firefighting Skills Training Co., attended a group tour during the weekend.

    “We arrived at Fenghuangxia at 12:30 p.m. and 14 of us started rafting. But when we rafted to a pond, the security staff asked us to come to the shore,” Zeng said.

    Zeng and another 10 people came to the shore, but in 30 seconds the flash flood rose to their waists.

    “We stood hand in hand trying to be steady, but in three minutes, two men and a woman on the left were swept away by the water,” Zeng said, adding that they were both his colleagues. The woman’s body was found at 8:30 a.m. yesterday.

    Zeng was also swept away by the water but managed to grab a branch about 500 meters down- stream. He was rescued by scenic area employees.

    Another survivor, surnamed Liu, who was receiving treatment at Taishan People’s Hospital, said they climbed onto a bridge when the water level suddenly rose. But the water level soon rose over the bridge. Liu was swept to the shore and survived, while others were swept away.

    According to another survivor, Chen, he heard employees of the scenic area shouting at them to come back to the shore when the river water started to surge. But Chen and the others didn’t understand the local dialect. When they came to safety, Chen saw six or seven people on the bridge were in danger.

    “My boss, his wife and two colleagues were waiting for help on the bridge, but they were all later swept away,” Chen said.

    Chen said they had asked the scenic area if they were allowed to raft despite the rain. The operator of the Fenghuangxia scenic area said it was all right.

    The Fenghuangxia Waterfall is about 18 meters tall and 26 meters wide. The rafting area is downstream from the waterfall and spans about 3.3 kilometers.