Videos

Trapped In Car, Woman Drowns As Husband Watches

by on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 111 comments comments

A woman drowned, trapped alone in her car, after she accidentally reversed off a ferry and fell into Shanghai’s Huangpu River on January 30th. Her husband and 18-year-old son were not in the car at the time and were forced to watch from the boat as workers and bystanders stopped them from jumping into the water.

Video also on Tudou.

black-passat-sinking-in-water

shanghai-woman-drowns-rescue-salvage-boats

shanghai-woman-drowns-salvaged-black-passat

Here are some news reports on Eastday and SMG (both Chinese).

Many Chinese netizens wondered why the news report did not mention the police/rescue boat that was clearly next to the sinking car, as seen in the video, but apparently did not do anything.

Comments from KDS:

zjzy1314:

Why not go to the back and open the door?
The back had not been submerged, it could have been opened.
The driver was scared stiff thus stuck inside waiting to die.

gali_429:

The boat next to it, what the heck is it doing…

ozawa:

Isn’t there a boat next to it

hanguowang:

Wasn’t the marine police boat just right there? Why didn’t they use a rope to stall it?

byron_r:

The rescue effort was a complete mess.

hide217:

What the hell were the marine police doing??? So close, my god!

tfwuliwuzuo;

CN! Are the people on the boat to the right watching a show!? Her husband is also an idiot. In this kind of situation, even if there were a hundred people holding me, I would at least have struggled a little. Just standing there watching, he was too calm.

benty:

Not a single rescue effort, such a failure.
Look at when the American plane crash landed in the river and how fast the rescue was.

zjzy1314:

Exactly, if was in Harmonious Country [China], the plane would eventually sink and everyone would drown.

CameronDoo:

I have smashed the window of a VW Santana with my bare hands before.
In this kind of situation, with it being one’s own wife, one should have even more adrenaline…

carl_1127:

On television, they said the pier workers were holding back the father and son, and the boat in the video should be the rescuers. However, they did not go rescue because they were afraid of their own danger, because when a 1.4 ton car sinks, it will suck nearby things down with it, so maybe this is the reason why the people nearby did not go down to rescue. But those rescuers were also too late, it was simply like watching a show [by then].

A_VIKING:

Watching the video made me very angry! TMD, for there to be casualties even in this kind of situation is simply unacceptable. The patrol boat by the side was at most only 20 meters away, and according to the video, the entire incident lasted at least 1 minute and 25 seconds (in reality, it was longer), which was completely enough for a rescue!
I pay my respects to the woman who died an unjust death!
Strongly request investigating the incompetent rescuers’ responsibility!

joceee:

After watching, I was first angry, then I felt like there was nothing that could be done…life is truly fragile, especially in China.

jojohsu:

Sigh, if I were present, I probably would have rushed in with a life preserver around me.
Otherwise, I might see this scene every time I close my eyes for the rest of my life.

tfwuliwuzuo:

If foreigners see this video, our harmonious country will be attacked/slandered yet again.

gaomingnet:

I imagine she was knocked unconscious, the car increasing speed backwards, and her head hitting the steering wheel, or maybe she was stuck by the airbag?

maomaoch:

Her man does not love this woman, or at least it is not the “willing to sacrifice one’s life” kind of love, how sad.

lilylilyli05:

We cannot completely blame the nearby rescue boat. Last year, this place also had something similar happen. A mother with three children fell into the river. They too were not rescued. There’s a limit to people’s reactions during critical moments, and everything else is just what the bystanders say. Without experiencing it oneself, one has no way of appreciating the situation at the time. I also am not very clear about the details of the situation. Let us just pay our respects to the deceased, and hope that she can rest in peace.

hotdogps:

Bastards! Such bastards! Fuck!

zytzyt:

You guys have hypothesized this much, yet I bet even if you broke the window, it would not be certain that she could get out. Actually, just looking at how women ride bicycles says it all.

PS: When men riding bicycles suddenly encounter people, they basically brake and put their feet down to stop.
Women yell and shake the handles, before finally falling on the ground.

Of course, I still need to despise a bit that nearby rescue boat for just watching the show.

One KDS member also linked to this video on how to get out of a sinking car:

Newer Comments →
  • Lily

    …That is just messed up. The boat is clearly there & It didn’t do anything? At least learn from the “Miracle of the Hudson” where tons of help appeared & rescued everyone in speedy time. Maybe I don’t know anything and the man on the boat was trying to help by waving his hands. I’m going to look for some survival tips in this situation to make me feel better.

  • Veer Left

    EVeryone is stupid and cowardly.
    1. The woman is insanely dumb. How do you reverse off a barge?? How do you NOT realize that you just reversed off a barge?? Get the fuck outta the car!!!
    2. The ferry attendant is liable for extreme negligence. How is it possible for some little wussy car to back itself off of your BARGE!!!!!!
    3. The Son and Husband are ridiculously neutered. Fucking Sheeple!
    4. The people that held them back should be put in jail.
    5. The harbour police boat personnel need firing!!!! WTF is their role?

    My question is this. Since we’ve established that there are some real Chinese men alive (there are… I know a few)…the next logical question in light of such ridiculous occurences would be; what percentage??
    Where is the decisive action and intestinal fortitude that defines the male gender in all mammals!??! Doesn’t even have to be your mother, just help!!!

    I blame the liability system that discourages trying to help lest you be unsuccessful.

  • Jordan

    It is very difficult to watch this knowing someone is inside the car and no one came to her rescue, if I was the husband, I won’t have a drowned wife, let me tell you that much! Well, maybe the husband didn’t know how to swim. Anyhow, I’m sure there got to be someone that was watching know how to swim, how could they just stood there and watch and not do anything? Where are the heroes?

    I guess that is the difference between eastern and western culture. Very sad!

  • Wtf

    This is outrageous.

    But Jordan you are bringing a very good point, based on my direct entourage in China, very few people actually know how to swim, it’s not so common as it is in the West. My wife included. So it’s not totally unreasonable to think that maybe sadly, nobody at the scene was feeling up to the task to jump into the muddy water to rescue her. Very sad, but quite possible.

    But I can tell you one thing, anybody trying to restrain me in such circumstances, trying to save my own wife, would have ended up at the very bottom of the river himself.

    And this video about how to escape from a sinking Car was very instructive.

  • Frank

    A lot of people don’t seem to realize that you cannot open the door of a sinking car — the pressure differential seals the door closed until the pressure is equalized. The pressure is equalized slightly after the car is totally filled with water. You might be able to roll down a window and escape through that, but I can’t name a single car that lets you roll down the windows from the outside.

    So even if the son and husband had been able to jump in, they probably still couldn’t save her life. Poor woman.

  • izme

    there is the major difference between NEW YORKERS and SHANGHAIERS

    at the hudson crash there where 4 boats helping within 7 mintues.

    shanghai?? one boat and one lazy dude thinking… um.. thats not my duty.

  • Jamie K

    If you broke the window the pressure differential would guarantee you get pulled in, even worse if the driver was unconscious. A lot of posters visualizing themselves as heroes here but hindsight doesn’t reflect reality. It’s obvious the fault lies with the rescue operation.

  • Wtf

    Judging by the stance of the dude on the Police boat, I would not be surprised at all if he was not even aware that there was somebody inside the car.

    He might have just witnessed a freaked out guy watching is expensive car sink.

    That’s just a theory of course. But after many years in China, it looks to me like a typical case of confusion and organizational chaos.

    If the Policeman was indeed aware of the situation, then I hope he fries in Hell for eternity, and everybody that did not try to save her (if they could).

  • Matt

    If your car is ever sinking like this, the first thing you should do is stay calm. I know, its easy to say and much harder to do but you can’t do anything if panic takes over.

    Secondly, no doors will open. Don’t try to open them. You will waste what little time you have.

    You should go to the back seat of the car because it is the side that will sink last and break a window. Then exit quickly through the broken window.

  • Jez

    Why did the ferry apparently have NO REAR SAFETY BARRIER or gate?

  • The John

    If the car is floating on the surface with all the windows closed, the best way for the rescuer to enter is through a window. Rear window entry probably offers the best opportunity. A hammer or center punch can be used to break tempered glass.

    Rescuers trying to enter the vehicle through open windows must be aware of the suction through the windows while the car is filling as the windows disappear below the surface.

    In addition to the above recommendations which were developed as a result of the Michigan study, the following is information that we advocate to the public as well as our Water Rescue Technician students:

    It only takes approximately 6 inches of water to float a small vehicle enough that the driver will lose total control. Anytime high water signage is posted, these signs need to be heeded by the public and avoided whenever possible. Larger size vehicles will float in as little as 2 feet of water.

    Before a vehicle is driven over ice, there should be at least 7 1/2 to 8 inches of solid ice in order to support a small car. However, even with 7 1/2 to 8 inches, pressure ridges can fracture and weaken ice. Schools of milling fish can also send warmer bottom water toward the surface, which will contribute to weak ice. Other factors include currents beneath the ice, pipes running from houses, etc.

    During a moving water incident (i.e. flash floods), once the car begins to float, as soon as two wheels off the road surface, the driver will lose all control over the vehicle.

  • Jez

    It has been mentioned on Tudou that the car was in the water for 18 minutes before sinking. There must have been hundreds of people watching by then, not one of them grabbed a life ring, vest or boat.

    Cowardice! case closed.

  • Jamie K

    How do you know no one grabbed a life vest and does the Tudou video contain the whole event? Post a link to the vid.

  • Alex

    More viral marketing from VW …

  • Name

    The rear door was well above water for over a minute. She could have climbed to the rear and easily opened either rear door.

  • Nathan

    lol all the chinese people are comparing this to the “miracle on the hudson” (the plane crash) and how wuick the response was but i would like to point out that during katrina bushes cunt ass stood there playing golf for a fucking week while thousands of people drowned without getting any help from the national government but when the earthquake happened the chinese government responded within hours of the quake helping out people and providing relief immediatly, when i was in china visiting family this summer seeing images of all the people helping just made me madder at bush lol im so glad Obama;s the president now

  • Joe #2

    The difference between the Hudson and Katrina is one of being prepared. The government (and the Katrina victims) were ill-prepared due to many different things (poor government response, their own negligence, etc.). The people on the Hudson were well-prepared (the man who landed it was quite possibly one of the best-prepared pilots for a scenario like that, there were many people nearby who managed to organize a rescue).

    If you don’t want to end up like this, prepare for disasters. Buy a fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit and know how to use them. If you live near water, have life vests and life preservers (and know how to swim).

    Recently, I had to do first aid on my own grandmother. She fell and was bleeding to death. But I was able to control the bleeding and to get 911 quickly enough that she will make a full recovery. Had I panicked or been unprepared, we would have had a funeral the other day.

    So you pick. Do you want to be prepared, or do you want to be a victim? Because you CAN do something about it. And the feeling of powerlessness if you fail is terrible.

  • totochi

    @Nathan
    Yeah, Obama-do-nothing while people freeze to death in Kentucky.

  • Tom

    “If foreigners see this video, our harmonious country will be attacked/slandered yet again.”

    What is the Chinese solution to this? Not to fix the problem or make people aware of the danger!!! [thats too much hard work]
    The solution is try to hide the video so they dont lose face!!

    • reggie

      Of course, all you guys care about is your ‘face’. For Christ’s sake, how does one live with himself after this knowing that he could have done something about it.

  • colin

    It has been shown on a Top Gear test that you can escape from a car in water when the car is still partially out of the water.

    A sad state of affairs here when no one comes to the rescue of a person in trouble, but then this is China and nothing much surprises me here anymore.

  • billy joel

    The difference between hudson river and this one:

    a fucking 747 landed in the hudson river, not a single car.

    a) husband can go hug car or something?
    b) what equipement on the police boat can help the woman ?

  • billy joel

    @tom

    You can wash your dirty laundry without hanging them in the public first.

  • billy joel

    I wonder how much of these “internet heroes” would even help a granny off a bus.

  • DKwan

    Unbelievable…

  • The Stig

    Looks like some Chinese (not all, there are of course decent people among them) just want to hide the whole affair and save their all important face, complain about Obama etc. Too late, its spreading all over the internet.

    The only way to save face in these situations, is start caring for each other’s safety so it doesn’t happen in the first place. The fact is, someone died in front of a crowd and not one person even attempted to rescue her.

  • Big Silly Cat

    People living under a totalitarian regime are manipulated in ways they are not even aware of. Those with courage and civic engagement are held back by the mob. The poor woman died because of it. I have left China because of it.

  • http://Sirbitodarescue.stillfuckyouall.com Sirbi

    Hate to say… this may all be a NWO plot to de-sensistize you mofokin sheeple from the real shit that’s coming down.

    Same shit happened in Cali a few weeks back…

  • Pete

    Am I missing something here? The vid was a minute long but a previous poster said it took 18 minutes for the car to sink. How does anyone know no one tried to help in that 18 minutes?

  • http://www.sun-zoo.com/chinageeks/ ChinaGeeks

    @ Billy Joel: one assumes that a police boat would have a variety of types of equipment to help in this situation. If a POLICE BOAT is not equipped to help STOP SHIT FROM SINKING, well then, we clearly have a problem. If nothing else, they certainly have ropes and something hard enough to break glass on board a police boat, they could go over and attempt to rescue the woman or at least last the car to their boat so it stays afloat for longer.

    You can say what you will about “internet heroes” but the fact remains, a large group of people watched this woman die without, it appears, even attempting to help. Cynicism is fun, but when it’s your wife in the car and no one, not even the police, even TRY to help her, are you still going to be on here talking about “internet heroes”?

    This whole event is sickening. What the hell are the police doing?

  • sql

    Is there a full video of this somewhere? I see a lot of people making comments that no one helped but all I’ve seen is the 2 min vid.

  • Santa

    The result of poor Chinese driving skills. No surprise at all

  • Mrs.Smith

    Her husband had better pray to I.T. God that he didn’t marry her in a Buddhist Temple. She just may torment his mind and body in the next life.

  • 2trs14u

    Protector lousy at his job!

  • hopeless_romanticJ

    The couple should have died together. He in fact tried. Someone needed to stay alive for their son.

    I wish them both a happy ending and beginning. ;

  • ONE angry bitch

    I wonder if he would save his mistress in the same situation?

  • Tom

    Any chance of having the throwing of a shoe at Wen Jiaboa at Cambridge University incident on this site Fauna?

  • JsE

    Maybe her husband should hook up with kitten killer. Filthy bastard.

  • wuxia

    @Veer Left
    The people that can actually dare to make decisions are making money and are not on a ferry.
    The rest is watching wuxia series and movies…very similar of Indians watching movies that portray luxury and far travels and Americans are watching movies about their heroic efforts in the Vietnam war.
    :-)

  • wuxia

    Hmm…sorry for the bad grammar.
    Scrap the “can” before “actually”
    and of course it is “similar to”
    and add “that” between “Americans” and “are”

  • betrayal

    and the cowards just sit at home and blog?

  • MS. Smith

    and hunt for their next victim/girlfriend

  • shinrai

    unbelievable (i’m talking about the KDS comments and the woman driving). people here are as stupid as the night is black. natural selection.

  • fireworks

    It would be nice to know what was the reason she was reversing?
    what kinda barge the woman was on when she reversed her car. Wasn’t there any signs or transport guards out there warning people?

    I thought barges are frigging big things. If she just reverse into the water, means she’s parked very close to the edge.

    It is a real tragedy to see accidents like this.

    Probably serves as a good lesson to people.

  • http://www.cnreviews.com Kai

    Guys, using this one example to highlight some fundamental “difference” between “Western” and “Eastern” culture going a bit far. There are plenty of examples of heroism and cowardice everywhere. Just from the Sichuan earthquake alone we had heart-rending stories of heroes (Brothers carrying sisters for miles? Mothers and teachers sheltering the children?) and cowards (Fan Pao Pao anyone?). I think it is a little sad that some people are trying to use one data point to elevate this to the level of racial/cultural “differences.’

    That said, I’m far more perturbed by that police boat seemingly doing nothing than I am about civilians not being good Samaritans jumping into the cold waters to do something they’ve never contemplated doing. It’s definitely aggravating when the people, the “professionals,” you expect to have the answers and solutions don’t, or otherwise fail you, especially if you’re the father or son in this situation. If nothing else, they didn’t do a good job of TRYING, or at least they didn’t do a good job of LOOKING like they were trying. Still, it’s hard for us to know from this video alone whether they have a protocol for these things, and whether or not they were following it but just couldn’t do much.

    I do find it a bit amusing for the conspiracy theorists in us all to wonder why the news reports did not mention the police boat idling on the side. Is it because the journalist was instructed not to mention it for fear of giving the public a bad impression of the police or was it simply an innocuous decision that it wasn’t actually important to report?

    @ Alex:

    LoL, that’s some dark humor there.

    @ Tom:

    I have a feeling the “oh noes, foreigners are going to say bad things about us” comment was probably said tongue-in-cheek.

    @ colin & The Stig:

    LoL, Top Gear. Love that show.

  • KTR

    No foreigner would attakc/slander your harmonious society. They would however say it is unacceptable that the marine police and the husband did nothing to help the woman and watched her die. I see this all the time in road accidents, people just stand and watch people die in the street instead of helping.

  • g-man

    “People living under a totalitarian regime are manipulated in ways they are not even aware of. Those with courage and civic engagement are held back by the mob. The poor woman died because of it. I have left China because of it.”

    You have never been in a Car accident have you ? The glorious people of the “free countries” strangely, react the same way.

  • http://www.cnreviews.com Kai

    LoL @ g-man. Thanks, that’s exactly correct.

    Interestingly enough, my first car was a b5 Passat. Loved her, and she saved my life too.

  • Wombadan

    The surrounding water pressure means you can’t open the doors easily. Opening the windows also lets water in, which impedes getting out. I hope she wasn’t waiting for help. For sure there was enough time for people to have done something, especially that nearby boat.

  • Joe #2

    The reason so few helped is called the “bystander effect” and yes, people who are unprepared (whether Chinese, American or whatever), do in fact stand around like clueless morons. I know. I’ve lived through more emergencies than I care to think about. I’m too often the only one who is thinking properly and all the responsibility falls to me.

    In general, people will do something stupid during emergencies unless they’ve had some kind of training or experience (or both). So you actually have to single people out if you want their help. If you say “someone call 911!” everyone will think that “someone” means “someone other than me” and no one will actually do it. You have to single someone out and tell them what to do or most people around you will be useless. And, of course, if you’re going to give orders you have to know what the hell you’re doing as well. But in order to do any of that, you have to be the one who is calm, rather than one of the people who are frightened, curious, timid or crying. Most people shut down during emergencies, but if you’re one of us that doesn’t and you have some idea what you’re doing, you just start ordering people around and organizing them.

    As for this comment:
    > b) what equipement on the police boat can help the woman ?

    I don’t know what they carry, but they should have an axe, baton or something else capable of breaking windows as well as a life vest. You’re trying to save the person, not the car. In an emergency, human life ALWAYS takes priority over property. You’re probably right that they couldn’t save the car. But they shouldn’t even be trying to save that.

    The sad thing for me is that no one there had any idea of what to do. No one knew to get life vests or boats. If the ferry had been properly equipped, SOMEONE would have been trained with what to do for a water rescue. I can’t believe no one was trained for that. It’s a ferry. Someone drowning is basically the most common emergency they can have. Being unprepared is inexcusable, no matter what country you’re in.

    Emergencies happen. You may only have one or two in your life, but damn they suck. And unless you want to spend years kicking yourself for not knowing things you had no way of knowing, it doesn’t hurt to learn how to handle the most common emergencies, like basic first aid, using a fire extinguisher (and when NOT to), etc.

    I’m just a nobody. Not an EMT or anything like that. But I do speak from experience here.

  • Veer Left

    This is ridiculous. They should ALL be in jail. The damn car stayed afloat for a LONG time. Long enough for

    1. her to make a phone call and straighten out her WILL.

    2. for the husband to have a cigarette.

    3. for the locals to organize a betting pool.

    Folks, it’s not like the car plunged into the river. It sat there for quite a few minutes. SHIPS have sunk faster than that Passat. Anyone making excuses for why those people couldn’t this and that is full of shit.
    there is no pressure on the door really. She could have gotten out and they could have gotten in, period.

    Here’s an ALTERNATIVE concept. She committed suicide. She didn’t think it would work (90% of female suicide attempts are just cries for attention) but she overestimated the bravery and devotion of all those around her.

    So many punkassbitchmade chinos in one spot!!! Who’d have thought!??

Newer Comments →
Personals @ chinaSMACK - Meet people, make friends, find lovers? Don't be so serious!»