Trapped In Car, Woman Drowns As Husband Watches

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.

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: