Vessel Overview
The CHANGZHENG passenger ship was built in Shanghai Hudong Shipyard in 1970 and put into operation in August 1971. The ship has a total length of 138.2 meters, a beam of 17.6 meters, a depth of 8.4 meters, a gross tonnage of 5,926, a cargo quota of 2,000 tons, and a passenger quota of 864. It has two 9ESDZ43/82B main engines with a power of 6,620 kilowatts and a full-load speed of 16.5 knots.
2. Firefighting process
On May 23, 1994, the CHANGZHENG passenger ship sailed on its 29th voyage. There were 861 people on board, including 760 passengers, 99 crew members, and 2 shipowners working on board. The cargo was 193.778 tons, including 495 bags of mail, 39 5-ton containers, 7 luggage containers, 9 cars, and 2 pianos . There were 97 cargo owners and 1,723 pieces of cargo. At 20:30, the ship left the No. 1 berth of the Huangpu Passenger Terminal in Shanghai Port and headed for Dalian . At 20:36, the ship entered the main channel for about 6 minutes. The on-duty mechanic found a fire under the left iron plate of the auxiliary boiler. He immediately went to the control room to call the police and took two portable foam fire extinguishers to put out the fire, but the effect was not great. Afterwards, the electrician, the second engineer, the third engineer, another on-duty mechanic, the chief engineer and five other people on the scene immediately used portable foam fire extinguishers, 100-liter push-type foam fire extinguishers, and two fire hoses to put out the fire. The fire was suppressed and then it rose again. At 20:52, the chief engineer went to the wheelhouse to report that the fire could not be controlled. The ship called the Marine Surveillance Bureau and requested tugboats and fireboats for rescue. At 20:54, the captain ordered the release of CO2 to seal the cabin and extinguish the fire. The engine room personnel evacuated the scene, closed the 14 fire doors and cabin skylights of the main engine room and auxiliary engine room, and started the CO2 fire extinguishing system to release 36 bottles of CO2 into the auxiliary engine room, totaling 900 kilograms (after investigation, 25 bottles of CO2 were actually released, totaling 625 kilograms). The chief engineer saw that the skylight of the auxiliary engine room was not closed tightly and smoke was coming out, so he sent personnel to block the smoke leaking from the skylight with a quilt and sprinkled yellow sand on the quilt to continue watering, in order to increase the airtightness of the cabin and reduce CO2 leakage. After the CO2 was released, the fire was effectively controlled. The captain ordered the ship to drop anchor and wait for the tugboat to help return to the dock. At this time, the entire ship lost power and lighting, and it was pitch black inside and outside. The lives of 861 passengers and crew members were seriously threatened. At the same time, because the disaster ship was anchored in the main channel of the Huangpu River , a ship collision accident could occur at any time, and the situation was very critical.
At 21:20, the "Gangxiao No. 1" ship of the Shanghai Port Public Security Bureau's Water Fire Brigade approached the disaster ship. After the fire fighters boarded the ship, they learned about the situation from the crew and organized a reconnaissance team to wear gas masks and enter the engine room under the guidance of the crew to investigate the fire. On the way, the safety rope was stuck and the reconnaissance team could only exit along the original route. At 21:30, the "Gangxiao No. 2" and "Gangxiao No. 5" ships approached the disaster ship. The on-site commander organized the reconnaissance team to go deep into the engine room for the second time under the leadership of the crew. The fire source was found under the fuel tank next to the auxiliary boiler in the auxiliary engine room. The fire was very large and spread to all sides. The on-site commander decided to take measures to "attack the engine room from inside and control the fire" according to the fire situation. The firefighters attacked the cabin from the port door of the auxiliary engine room and the starboard door of the main engine room, respectively, and each used two water guns to prevent the fire from spreading, winning precious time for the safe evacuation of more than 800 people on the ship. At 21:45, more than 40 fire trucks of the Shanghai Fire Department gathered at the dock, ready to participate in the firefighting at any time. At 21:50, the disaster ship was pushed to the dock by the tugboat. The ship immediately organized and guided the passengers to evacuate in an orderly manner. At 22:20, all the passengers and crew members evacuated the disaster ship. The land fire brigade quickly boarded the ship and launched an internal attack and firefighting battle. At this time, because the firefighters on board opened the engine room door and the multi-layer corridor door in the superstructure, air entered to form an airflow, making the auxiliary engine room burn more fiercely. The fire quickly spread to the surrounding and upper parts along the passage and the ladder, and the burning speed was extremely fast. Soon, except for the first deck layer, the other deck layers of the ship burned one after another. The corridors and rooms were full of thick smoke and flames. The fire spewed out from the portholes and from the skylight ceiling on the top of the ship. The fire was out of control. The officers and soldiers who attacked the fire from the inside were forced to evacuate, but the two firefighters of the water fire brigade who went deep into the engine room to put out the fire were trapped in the engine room because their retreat was cut off by the fire. Leaders and comrades were extremely anxious. The on-site commander organized rescue personnel to carry out several forced rescues, but all failed. As there were more than 200 tons of fuel in the cabin, in order to prevent explosion, firefighters continued to spray water on the disaster ship to cool it down. At 23:00, the disaster ship seriously tilted to the right. In order to ensure the safety of rescue personnel and rescue ships, the on-site commander ordered all participants and fireboats , tugboats and other ships to evacuate the disaster ship. At 23:35, the disaster ship lost its center of gravity and capsized in the Huangpu River. The part of the hull exposed on the river surface continued to burn. In order to prevent the oil tank on the ship from bursting and the oil from flowing into the Huangpu River, causing a fire on the river surface, the fireboat moved on the river surface and sprayed water with a fire cannon.coldAt 17:00 on May 24, all the remaining fires were put out.
Comment: On May 23, 1994, a fire broke out on the CHANGZHENG passenger ship while it was sailing at the Huangpu Wharf of Shanghai Port . After receiving the alarm, the Shanghai Fire Brigade and the Shanghai Port Water Fire Brigade immediately responded and mobilized a large number of police forces. However, the fire spread and eventually got out of control because the firefighters opened the closed cabin door in disorder, causing two firefighters to go deep into the cabin and one firefighter to be seriously injured. The ship was later overturned in the Huangpu River due to the influx of a large amount of water for fire fighting, causing the hull to lose stability. The fire caused a loss of 1.85 million yuan in cargo and property, a scrap value of 5.988 million yuan for the ship, and 12.4 million yuan in costs for cleaning and salvaging the dirty oil. The lesson was very profound.
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