On February 25th, around 10 a.m., a collision between two vessels occurred in Huaihua City, Hunan Province, resulting in a passenger ship capsizing and sinking. There were 19 people on board that fell into the water, and as of now, 5 people have been rescued (2 deceased and 3 injured), while the whereabouts of the remaining 14 passengers are unknown.
The Emergency Management Department of Hunan Province issued a situation report stating that the collision took place between an oil spill cleaning vessel (Huai Green Water No.1) and a passenger ship (Xiang Yuanling 0301) in the Yuanshui River area of Qinglang Township, Yuanling County, Huaihua City. The collision led to the capsizing and sinking of the passenger ship. It was confirmed that there were no personnel from the oil spill cleaning vessel who fell into the water or went missing, while 19 individuals from the passenger ship went overboard. Currently, 5 individuals have been found, including 2 fatalities and 3 who are receiving medical treatment, with the rest still unaccounted for.
A video circulating on Extreme News purportedly shows the collision between the aforementioned oil spill cleaning vessel and the passenger ship. The video posted by a netizen displays two vessels, one larger and one smaller, with one seemingly moving straight ahead while the other appears to be crossing the river. As the vessels approached each other, they collided in the course of their movement.
The netizen who shared the video captioned it with: “The sinking of a ship incident in the Chong Section of Qinglang Gaoping, Yuanling County, Huaihua City, Hunan Province on February 25, 2025.”
Wan Yichao, the Village Secretary of Dayanpo Village in Qinglang Township, informed the Beijing News that out of the 19 individuals, 12 were residents of Dayanpo Village. The passenger ship involved in the incident was designed to accommodate 46 people but was actually carrying 19 (including the captain), and it has submerged underwater. Among the 3 survivors, one is the 73-year-old captain named Tan from Dayanpo Village, who had been steering the passenger ship. The other two survivors are a 2-year-old child and a villager in their fifties.
According to Wan Yichao, the villager in their fifties who was rescued recounted that they were near the front cabin when the two vessels collided, and the cabin door was open. When they escaped, they pulled a child out of the door. The captain was at the helm at the bow of the ship, the farthest distance from the end where the collision occurred, successfully evacuating without injuries. Wan Yichao mentioned that both the rescued villager and the child were wearing life jackets.
A participant in the rescue operation at the scene mentioned that the water area involved spans hundreds of meters and has a depth of around 80 meters with fast-flowing currents. At that time, the rescuers surveyed the downstream waters but did not find the sunken ship, individuals, floating debris, or oil spills. Subsequently, the rescue team utilized sonar detection but still did not locate the sunken ship.