One person died and nine remain missing after a pickup truck plunged into a river Saturday night in Huanjiang Maonan autonomous county, Guangxi, local authorities said Sunday.
According to the statement, a report was received at 9:08 pm that a pickup carrying 15 people had fallen into the water while crossing a low-water bridge in a village. By 2 am, rescuers had pulled six people from the river. Five were reported to be out of life-threatening danger, while one was confirmed dead.
The rescue operation involved 65 fire rescue personnel and 12 vehicles. Teams were equipped with sonar detectors, diving gear, and mobile lighting, China Central Television reported.
Searches were coordinated across 12 locations along the river. The bridge where the pickup plunged measures roughly four meters wide by 100 meters long, according to personnel on site, it added.
Local public security, emergency management, firefighting, and maritime affairs departments have been mobilized for the all-out rescue effort. The forward command center designated the core search zone based on rapid water flow conditions and rising water levels caused by heavy rainfall in the area. The incident took place after an employer had organized 28 workers to plant sweet potatoes locally. After work concluded, 13 workers returned independently, while the remaining 15 boarded the pickup truck.
Relevant individuals to the incident have been placed under legal control. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.
The Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Sunday dispatched a working group to Guangxi to assist with and guide the ongoing search and rescue operations.
Search and rescue underway after pickup truck plunges into river
Chinese and Myanmar police have broken the deadlock over Muse region and jointly launched a sweeping crackdown on telecom fraud dens across northern Myanmar after painstaking intelligence operations, high-level consultations and evidence-based persuasion.
Since China launched its special campaign against crimes in northern Myanmar targeting Chinese nationals in July 2023, the ringleaders of Kokang's "Four Families" have all been captured, and fraud syndicates in Wa State and Shan State Special Region-4 have been dismantled.
However, Muse, the campaign's fourth front, remained unbroken.
Muse lies in northeastern Myanmar's Shan State, facing Ruili City of southwest China's Yunnan Province across a narrow river. Long a vital gateway between the two countries, its rugged terrain and complex geopolitical makeup have also made it a preferred hiding ground for telecom fraud syndicates.
With the assistance of local police in Muse, the Ruili police collected and sorted clues from various sources. Through case analysis and suspect screening, they have gradually obtained detailed information on the telecom fraud dens, and finally secured a map clearly marking the locations of these operations in Muse.
Afterwards, leveraging the law enforcement cooperation mechanism established along the China-Myanmar border, senior police officials from both sides were engaged in in-depth consultations regarding the crackdown on new types of telecom fraud dens that were scattered and concealed across the Muse area.
"We on the Chinese side have firmly focused on the fact that combating criminal activity is a shared responsibility of both the Chinese and Myanmar police forces, and we have engaged with them on this premise," said Zhao Nanfang, then head of the criminal investigation corps of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department.
At the talks, with the help of the fraud den distribution map in Muse jointly drawn up by Chinese and Myanmar police, China's representative Geng Bang gave a detailed briefing backed by data cross-verified through case analysis, with each set of figures corresponding precisely to a specific telecom fraud compound.
"Who ran the area, who were the financiers and key members, who provided protection, roughly how many people were inside -- we've got all these straight," said Geng, then deputy head of the criminal investigation corps of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department.
"Myanmar's military carried out disguised reconnaissance and verified the sites on the ground. Except for a very few locations where people had moved away over time, they later confirmed the rest -- these were indeed compounds or parks running telecom frauds," said Zhang Jun, then head of the telecom and online fraud investigation division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security.
With professional, solid and detailed evidence, as well as candor toward partners and resolve against crimes, Chinese police won the unanimous recognition of the Myanmar officials present, laying a firm foundation for subsequent talks round after round.
"We aimed to achieve a 'dynamic zero-case' goal regarding the telecom fraud activities affecting our border areas. We wanted to demonstrate our determination and stance, showcase our concrete measures, and put forward a strategy for joint China-Myanmar crackdowns," said Zhao.
In late March and early April 2024, after careful planning, Chinese and Myanmar police carried out their first joint operation in Muse, arresting 807 suspects.
This also marks the completion of the comprehensive crackdown on telecom fraud dens across four areas of northern Myanmar of the Shan State Special Region-4, Wa State, Kokang, and Muse.
Chinese, Myanmar police crack down on telecom fraud in Muse through close cooperation
