Chapter 760 - 503: Leadership Everywhere!

The Fire Brigade had also arrived.

They received the alarm at 3:40 PM, and even though they were a local squadron, they arrived later than the Second Squadron.

According to Captain Liu, who led the team, the road was filled with cars turning back, and it was narrow and congested. It took an hour and a half just for the fire truck to make it here with its Alarm Bell blaring, asking people to make way, and another hour to walk over the stones.

Even the professional Fire Brigade had such difficulty arriving; one could imagine the condition of the roads.

Once Captain Liu learned of Fang Huai’s status and knew about his helicopter and professional Rescue team, he immediately acknowledged Fang Huai’s leadership position.

The newly appointed commander, Fang Huai, ordered the usage of the dozen or so various life detection devices at hand to first search the perimeter, looking for people on the shallow cover layer who had the greatest chance of survival.

First the easy tasks, then the difficult ones; first the injured, then the deceased; first the severely injured, then the lightly injured.

Some local villagers, along with Zhao Jinchen and Wang Peng, had been taken out by the refueling helicopter to guard at the roadblock outside the huge boulder, preventing other locals from coming through.

Pm, 18:52.

"Found one!"

"Bark! Bark!"

"I’ve found one here too! I need two people! Help lift this!"

"Coming, coming... Is there any hope for this person?"

"Dead."

"The one here is dead too."

Within half an hour of Fang Huai taking over, more and more people gathered here.

Two bodies buried not deeply on the collapse’s outer perimeter were discovered.

The locals and the staff of the local government helped carry the bodies, which were mangled and bloody, and placed them on a relatively flat slope nearby.

The braver among them wiped the blood off the faces of the deceased with paper, while those who were less courageous did not leave; they stood by, murmuring their laments softly.

One death, two deaths; for the news, it’s just a number, but for the fellow villagers, it’s increasingly deserted markets and the white cloths seen on passing each home, the cries heard, and a pervasive atmosphere of mourning.

One family after another collapsed, and many places where people used to eat in the village were also destroyed.

"This mine has been operating since the Republican era, why did it collapse now?"

"It’s been dug for over 80 years, maybe the Mountain God couldn’t hold any longer."

"Ah, poor kids, still got their glasses on, doesn’t look like mine workers, they were educated..."

Listening to these sighs, Fang Huai felt a sense of sadness in his heart, as if he were ensnared in an ancient priest’s curse.

They were all people from his hometown, Chongqing.

But quickly, Fang Huai caught sight of people risking danger to approach from the stony beach nearby and snapped back to attention, immersing himself in commanding the surroundings. He picked up the Two-Way Radio and said:

"Chang Ming and Jiang Fang! Have you started cooking? More and more people are arriving, cook more rice!"

"He Zhijun! Don’t go there! Search the perimeter first! That side is covered with thick layers of rock and soil, you won’t be able to find anyone buried underneath! Wait for the excavator!"

"Leader Hao! Organize the locals and the people from the local government who came to help! Allocate searchers, each taking a few, keep an eye on them, it’s too chaotic here!"

Before long, Zhao Jinchen’s voice also transmitted through the Two-Way Radio.

"Captain Fang, Captain Fang, the Wulong county government has organized People’s Armed Police to come here. Should we ask the helicopter to help bring them in?"

"Contact Captain Liu and ask if he has finished refueling."

"I can’t make calls! No signal!"

"Borrow a Union cell phone from them! The villagers and the families of the miners you were to ask about, did you find out?"

"There are two families of miners, but I asked, and their phones are all from Mobile!"

"Keep searching!"

Fang Huai shouted.

Just now, tests showed that here both the Mobile and Telecom base stations might have issues, only the Union cell phones could get through.

Upon arriving, Fang Huai immediately realized that with such a large-scale landslide, the chances of survival for those covered on the ground were very small. The greatest hope lay with the villagers in the houses on the perimeter of the landslide and the miners underground.

But with half a mountain pressing down, it was unknown how many meters thick the burial was; manual digging was impossible, and the specific locations of the mine shafts could not be found. Large visible cracks on the mountain posed a constant risk of further landslides, making it even more unsafe to dig underneath.

Currently, the most feasible way to make contact was through cell phones.

But cell phones were expensive these days; not many miners owned them, and they needed to be from Union, further decreasing the likelihood if the phones were also brought into the mines. They could only broadly search and try.

Just then, a roaring sound came from the distance.

"Helicopter! The helicopter’s back!"

"It doesn’t look like the same one!"

At this remark, Fang Huai looked up somewhat excitedly.

But he was greatly disappointed.

It indeed was not the same aircraft; it was a much smaller police helicopter.

He had thought it was the large Russian aircraft arriving.

They had already obtained a plane capable of transporting supplies and equipment, one was enough. What they lacked most now were excavators.

Outside, large boulders blocked the way everywhere; there wasn’t a single path an excavator could traverse. Excavators were nimble and could hook soil to climb slopes, but for these stones that could be several meters high and unevenly spaced, there was simply no way.

Besides, there was a ring-shaped pit nearby, which had already gathered significant water. It looked like if it rained again, a large barrier lake might form, making it even more impossible for excavators to cross.

Moreover, the rate at which this barrier lake surrounding them was filling up was unimaginable and incredibly dangerous.

The path Mayor Ma and his group had taken around was through the woods, a two-hour trek through the forest, which was also impossible to dig through.