At around 9 p.m. on the evening of June 1, 2015, the passenger ship "Oriental Star", carrying 456 people, suddenly encountered a tornado on its way from Nanjing to Chongqing and capsized in the waters of Jianli, Hubei Province, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
After the incident occurred, nearby Blue Sky Rescue Teams including the Yueyang Blue Sky Rescue Team responded immediately. They dispatched team members to the location of the sunken ship to start salvage operations. Moreover, a large amount of professional equipment was mobilized for the rescue as required.
On the morning of June 2nd, the rescue workers from the Blue Sky Rescue Team entered the downstream area of the incident site to carry out search and rescue operations. On that day, three bodies of the victims were retrieved.
On June 4, they assisted the waterborne public security department in handling one deceased body.
On the morning of June 5, one body was salvaged.
As of noon on June 6, the Blue Sky Rescue Team had dispatched a total of 198 members from 36 teams. More than 380 person - times were engaged in on - site operations, and the total search mileage completed was 5,845 kilometers.
