Free Web NovelChapter 335: Chapter 269: Dangerous Rescue Plan
The male student named Cao Jianqiang drank the milk and then had a bit of the "sweet water" that Cao Yi had obtained from the Earthquake Command’s medical staff and, after a while, fell back asleep.
On his face, there was still a trace of a blissful smile.
Because his father had come, survived the earthquake, and after the People’s Liberation Army learned that the boy could speak, they helped him find his father; his mother was injured but not in life-threatening danger.
As long as he could make it out safely, this sorrowful town could have one more happy family.
Fang Huai checked, and his vital signs were not too bad.
In the morning, members of the Earthquake Rescue Team also rested for several hours before slowly rejoining the rescue.
A new team from the Mianyang Detachment of Firefighters arrived at the site, and after two hours of searching, they surprisingly found a girl buried beneath the second floor of the broken-arm building, her entire leg pinned down by the collapsed structure. Over a dozen people were risking their lives for the rescue in that dangerous building.
Most of the surrounding People’s Liberation Army troops, after resting for three or four hours, re-entered the fray.
Around 10 a.m., Fang Huai began to feel a bit weak, but after Cao Yi brought three bottles of glucose, Cao Yi pulled him aside to rest for 20 minutes by the tent.
Cao Yi brought some new information.
Another person came from the Guizhou Brigade, Zhou Yuwei, a Third-level Sergeant from the Anshun Development Zone.
He was on vacation visiting his family in Mianyang due to his mother’s serious illness. During the earthquake, he was with his family and after watching the news broadcast, he inquired with comrades about the whereabouts of the whole corps. After contacting the troops yesterday, he rushed over in a hurry.
After a long traffic jam and asking for directions when there were no cars, climbing mountains and fording streams, he finally arrived.
Before, the whole corps numbered 107 people, now, there were 108.
Moreover, the Fire Brigade Director had already arrived at Dujiangyan by noon on the 13th, and the Public Security Fire Brigade Command began operating in Dujiangyan.
Last night, the Fire Brigade Headquarters issued the order: "race against time, save lives." At one o’clock in the morning, more than 7,200 reinforcements from 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government converged towards the disaster area.
The drivers of vehicles 1 and 2 from Special Service Squadron 2 also set out in the early morning. Their squadron’s fire trucks were coming.
At 11 o’clock, the spot named Ruins No.4, where Cao Jianqiang was buried, was finally excavated by everyone’s joint efforts.
On him, only the last slab of stone propped up by a jack remained.
Space was limited, not many could lend a hand; a dozen people, lifting the huge slab, each bursting with veins.
"One, two, three, pull!"
"Hold it, steady! Don’t collapse!" the Earthquake Rescue Team shouted loudly.
The dozen of them spent a full 30 hours working hard for this ruin.
Fang Huai’s persistence also hastened the completion of the rescue by several hours at least.
Everyone could not let the cumbersome stone slab harm their hope,
Not even by the slightest.
"It’s out, it’s out, throw!"
"Bang!"
A loud and dull sound of the stone slab hitting the ground, and the child, was out.
On Cao Jianqiang’s face, there were some places swollen with bruises, and beside him were many dried bloodstains. Fang Huai hurried forward, holding his upper body, and fed him another tube of glucose.
"Uncle... I don’t want any more... There are still people below, you guys hurry and save them."
Beside Cao Jianqiang, one could already see a large hole, and below, one could vaguely make out a boy who appeared to be sleeping.
The feeling was strange, where once was the first or second floor, had been buried down to the basement level.
Some residents said that during the earthquake, some buildings were arched up by the ground, suddenly rising and beginning to shake, with some foundations shaking out, and after being knocked down, they disappeared again.
As if swallowed by the ground.
At this moment, they witnessed that what the residents said was indeed true.
Clearing away a few meters of rubble on the surface, everything under the hole was completely buried by the land that had been turned over and fallen down, except for that big hole, it was perfectly flat.
It was unimaginable how many creatures have been buried like this by earthquakes in the past. Eventually sinking down, decaying into the soil and passively becoming part of the tectonic movements.
After Cao Jianqiang was carried away by the medical staff, everyone immediately turned their attention to the child below.
Fang Huai stared at the hole, considering how to proceed with the rescue.
But his mind was truly heavy. After maintaining such intense and stressful work for a whole day, even with a strong body, the occasional dizziness in his head prevented him from focusing.
At this time, a hand patted him on the shoulder from behind.
Turning around, he saw a middle-aged woman.
She took out seven or eight cookies from her pocket and wordlessly pulled Fang Huai’s hand, stuffing them into his.
"Lady, no need, we have food," Fang Huai hastily tried to return the cookies to the woman looking worn and haggard.
In the midst of refusing, the woman suddenly knelt down with tears gushing out as if a dam had burst, and tremulously said,
"Please, save my daughter, she’s still waiting to eat the cookies I bought for her!"
Fang Huai quickly went forward while shouting for help.
"Get up! Get up! Help her up, come on!"
Everyone moved to help the weeping mother to her feet.
"Lady, get up quickly!"
"There’s still a chance! There’s still a chance!"
Fang Huai immediately pointed at the ruins and asked, "Is there a girl inside, is she your child?"
The older sister sobbed and shook her head, "No...my child was in the building with Teacher Tan yesterday, she was on the third floor, Teacher Tan was on the fourth floor, she didn’t make it out, she must be down below!"
Everyone who heard this felt somewhat disheartened.
The primary goal of the first phase of disaster relief was to find life.
Yesterday, after everyone rescued the four children that Tan Qianqiu was protecting, and after trying everything on that pile of rubble with search dogs, Little White, and two life detectors taking turns, except for the search dogs barking and Little White letting out a yelp, indicating there were only corpses below, no method could prove there was any sign of life underneath.
In fact, many times, everyone hoped that no device was accurate, and that it would be best if everyone below was still alive.
Inside Fang Huai’s heart, the weight was immense; there was no reason for Little White’s nose to detect a living person on the fourth floor, and then after clearing it, not detect a person on the third floor.
But at this moment, facing the sister-in-law who was about to collapse, he could only firmly believe that there was still hope.
"Crack, crunch."
Fang Huai picked up a cookie and bit into it, one bite at a time.
It was crisp and loud.
Strawberry-flavored, very sweet.
But that cookie, which the sister-in-law had been gripping so tightly in her hand for so long that it was warm yet still intact, illustrating her cautious care, was truly heartbreaking to eat.
The people around him were watching him eat this heartbreaking cookie, share the same sorrow.
"Sister-in-law, I’ve eaten your cookie, in a while, I’ll go help you look for people," Fang Huai managed to say, fighting back tears.
"Eh, eh, thank you, thank you..." The sister-in-law got up, excited to the point of kneeling down to him again.
Fang Huai pulled her up once more.
Then looking at the big hole on the ground, his mind surged with passion, and he regained his spirit.
Not another second to waste.
He walked to the mouth of the hole, leaned in, and took a look.
Inside was a narrow, downward-sloping passage, with only the sight of a boy pinned under a precast panel on his right arm clear, the rest uncertain.
This was a typical confined space rescue, consuming a massive amount of time for the rescue operation, and considering there was at least one more girl inside, a slow rescue would require at least a day or more.
He turned his head and called out loudly to the Lieutenant Colonel of the People’s Liberation Army not far away:
"Battalion Commander Liang, does your excavator come with a drill head?"
After one night, Fang Huai and many others here had become familiar with each other, being able to call each other by their first names.
The Lieutenant Colonel’s surname was Liang, and he was the deputy battalion commander of the mechanical battalion.
Battalion Commander Liang walked over, hands on hips, looking at the big hole in the ground, and said:
"You plan to use a drill head? With such a big hole, the rocks that will be chipped off and fall could injure the kids below or worse, bury them alive!"
Fang Huai took a deep breath and pointed to a thin piece of sheet metal on the wreckage, saying, "Drill a small opening, I’ll go in first. I’ll take that piece of sheet metal down to cover them, even if it collapses, I can support their living space!
The space below is relatively stable; a few aftershocks haven’t brought it down, as long as you have someone clearing the rocks in time when drilling, don’t let too many rocks fall and quickly expand the rescue area, I can support it! Then, when it’s open, everyone will be easier to save!"
Battalion Commander Liang was shocked.
Everyone around was shocked as well.
This life-risking method of rescue, this firefighter, was ready to do it a second time.
"You can’t support shit!" Battalion Commander Liang, who had really taken a liking to this firefighter, couldn’t help but curse out loud.
Seeing the anxious crowd around them, he quickly raised his voice to explain:
"We have excavators with header numbers of 3 and above, equipped with large drill bits! Do you have any idea how big the rocks that fall will be? Each piece is at least a hundred pounds!
Falling down, they come with speed! How strong are you? If you die, you’ll be a martyr, but what about the children?"
The people nearby, hearing this, also quickly urged:
"Don’t go down, young soldier! Everyone’s life is precious, and you’re not much older than those children. You’ve still got decades of good life ahead of you! Life is expensive!"
"Yeah! Whose life isn’t valuable?"
Fang Huai listened, yet shook his head, and then glancing at the sister-in-law being supported by everyone sitting in the distance, he said to Battalion Commander Liang:
"There’s no time left. Confined space rescue will cost at least a dozen people in this hole, at least one or two days. fгeewebnovёl.com
If we delay any longer, the children inside are already injured, just as dangerous.
Battalion Commander Liang, I am this year’s spring season martial arts competition champion of the Fire Brigade Headquarters. You have to believe in my strength! With this slope, the rocks that come down, I’m sure I can support them! Just don’t let too many rocks fall, and that’s all!"
Fang Huai had never thought before that the title of "Martial Arts Competition Champion" could become a credential to be authorized to risk one’s life.
But today, he had no more words to explain.
Battalion Commander Liang could never have imagined.
This soldier, who could arrange the scene calmly, was also a champion of the brigade level competition.
If he belonged to their troop, upon returning, he would report to his regiment leader to poach him.
He didn’t know that Fang Huai was just a Soldier.
After gritting his teeth for a while, he looked at the thin sheet of iron that could be rolled up and finally made a decision.
"Company Leader! Notify Squad Leader Fan to set up the drill on the excavator and bring it here! Make sure Squad Leader Fan comes personally!"
