Anhui BlueSky arrives earthquake-hit Luding for rescue

At 12:52 on September 5, an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred in Luding County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan.

After the earthquake, the Ma'anshan Blue Sky Rescue Team, Xuancheng Blue Sky Rescue Team, Ningguo Blue Sky Rescue Team, and Hanshan Blue Sky Rescue Team responded immediately. They formed a 19-member joint rescue team to set off for Luding County at 4:30 pm on September 6 to carry out rescue work.

Su Chenglong, the captain of the Xuancheng Blue Sky Rescue Team, has participated in the rescue of many earthquakes, such as the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, Yushu earthquake in Qinghai, Ya'an earthquake in Sichuan, Ludian earthquake in Yunnan, and has rich rescue experience.

On the evening of September 7, a reporter from AnhuiNews contacted Su; Su said that after the Luding earthquake, they applied to the relevant departments and obtained the approval to rush to the scene for rescue. They carried suitable rescue equipment such as thermal imaging drones, emergency power generation, emergency lighting, etc., and were ready to carry out rescue operations immediately after arriving at the scene.

On September 8, a reporter contacted Zhai Yinghui, the Ma'anshan Blue Sky Rescue Team captain. Zhai said they had arrived in Tianwan Township of the Yi nationality, Shimian County, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province. Tianwan Yi Township, located in the Dadu River Valley, has become an "isolated island" due to the roads being cut off.

The four Anhui rescue teams have been divided into two groups: the waterway rescue group and the deep mountain search and rescue group. Zhai and his team were preparing to set off by waterway to the nearby villages for rescue in rubber boats.

The other group consists of Xu Youyong, captain of the Ningguo Blue Sky Rescue Team, and two other teammates have entered the deep mountain with two days' worth of food, water, satellite phones, life detectors, and tents.

Since there is no mobile phone signal, the team members rely on satellite phones to communicate.

As of press time at 4 pm on September 8, the reporter learned that all the rescue team members who stayed behind had also received new road search tasks.