Society

Two survive engulfing tides, 4 still missing

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-10 22:17

HANGZHOU -- Four people, including two children, are missing after tides surging up over a levee swept them into a river in an east China city on Sunday, rescuers said.

Eight people were walking along the levee on the Qiantang River when tides suddenly surged and swept six of them away at around 2 pm Sunday in the city of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, local publicity officials and a fire-fighter told reporters.

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Two were rescued by fishing boats while four others -- a five-year-old girl, a ten-year-old girl, and their parents -- remained missing, officials said.

About 400 police and 120 rescuers are searching the waters along the levee for the missing. The authorities mobilized 19 boats to join the rescue and turned on all twelve surveillance cameras along the levee, officials said.

The levee on the Qiantang River mouth in Zhejiang province is well known for its huge tides, which reached as high as 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) in the past.

Although dangerous, the peculiar phenomenon always attracts people.

In 2007, 11 died after being swept away when watching the tidal flow, while the worst tidal accident occurred in 1993, claiming 19 lives and leaving another 40 missing.

But officials said Sunday's tragedy occurred at a part of the levee that is not a traditional sight-seeing spot and it remains unknown if the victims, all locals, came to watch the tides.