“My best friends are all gone!”
At a press conference held on the evening of the 24th, Qiqihar Mayor Shen Hongyu confirmed, “In this accident, a total of 11 teachers and students lost their precious lives, causing serious harm to many families.” According to media reports, this is the public announcement of the identities of the 11 victims of the collapse of the gymnasium at Qiqihar No. 34 Middle School.
It was originally thought that the announcement of the identities of the 11 victims would be a list with more information, but in fact, it was just a conclusion that everyone had expected. Nowadays, everyone already knows that at the time of the incident, “on the afternoon of July 23, two coaches and 17 players of the school’s women’s volleyball team were training in the gymnasium.” Among these 11 victims, there was one female coach and 10 female students from the school team.
After reading the report, on a popular short video platform, I accidentally came across a picture posted by the setter of the No. 34 Middle School team. This photo, which shows 12 school team players squeezed together in the narrow space of a hard sleeper train, has garnered over 900,000 likes and 160,000 comments, was collected by over 30,000 netizens, and was forwarded by over 230,000 netizens. Especially those simple words of mourning, even if they are strangers, make people burst into tears.
In fact, before the evening press conference, netizens had already sorted out the casualties, “A total of 19 people were buried, including 2 coaches and 17 girls. The coaches were a man and a woman, and the female coach passed away. The male coach is in the hospital. Four girls ran out on their own, and three are in the hospital, and the other 10 girls all…” This analysis is completely consistent with the official report’s mention of “4 people are not in life-threatening danger.”
Through the dense images of flowers in front of the No. 34 Middle School and inside the collapsed gymnasium circulating online, you can probably feel the local people’s remembrance and mourning for the unexpected loss of life. Flowers are a tribute, and they are also a silent condemnation of the tragedy of life caused by human error.
After the incident, especially after seeing the father who lost his daughter calmly recounting Qiqihar’s treatment of the families of these lost children as objects of condolence, we deeply felt the insignificance of being a small citizen in a big country. In the face of the tragedy, we, who are clearly victims of the disaster, have suddenly become a factor of social instability in their eyes, becoming the “everything” in “stability overrides everything.”
In that father’s accusation, we only vaguely heard a name called “WEI YUXIN.” His parents wanted to enter the rescue room to identify their child, but they were not allowed. We also learned that for more than 5 hours, no one communicated with the parents who waited all night, and no one informed them of the treatment situation. There were only personnel responsible for maintaining stability.
When we heard that after seven hours of rescue, the child had passed away six hours earlier, people with vulnerabilities will definitely feel a tearing hatred in their hearts. These decision-makers, who never treat life as life and children as children, even if they are torn apart, it is difficult to relieve the pain in the parents’ hearts. You must know that those were their daughters who they raised to be teenagers!
After every tragedy, we always hope to find the names of all the victims, read them silently in our hearts, and spread them in society, so that these little flowers in their teens will not have come to the world in vain. Unfortunately, this humble hope is often difficult for us to fulfill.
Perhaps it is the fate in the dark that allows us to see those bright smiles in the social media account of Da Tu Tu, the surviving setter of the No. 34 Middle School team, and we also know the names of many of them. First is A Liang (Liang Yu). Da Tu Tu said to her A Liang in the comment with the photo with A Liang, “A Liang, next time we will eat a lot of delicious food, and then drink milk tea, don’t forget!”
Netizen “VV”, who doesn’t know her, encouraged Da Tu Tu, saying, “Your A Liang definitely hopes that you will live better for her, go see this world that she didn’t have time to see, eat the food she hasn’t eaten, and do the things she didn’t have time to do, so you have to work hard.”
Under Da Tu Tu’s group photo, netizen “Meng Shao” asked, “Sister, excuse me, how is Lin Hongyu?” Netizen “ttt” only gave five words as an answer, “She has passed away.”
Opening “ttt”’s homepage, I learned that she and the deceased Lin Hongyu were “opponents on the court, friends off the court.” She said, “The last game in Shandong Weifang last summer was played with you guys, I was very happy and cherished that last time.” No one would have thought that these children, who should have been friends for a lifetime, could only say “see you in the next life” in another summer.
Da Tu Tu said, “My best friends are all gone.” Some netizens said directly that they didn’t shed tears when they saw the news, but they couldn’t hold back their tears after seeing these sincere smiles and comments full of human warmth. Perhaps, this is the reason why they are afraid of emotions and are reluctant to say that the victims are students and teachers. After all, no matter how cold they are, they dare not ignore the public sentiment that is凝聚 (condensed) by the tragedy.
In fact, normally, there are more than 17 players in the volleyball team. It is said that a student “left early due to physical discomfort and escaped a disaster.” We have to say that, like the 4 girls who ran out on their own, they are all lucky, and they are all favored by God.
As netizens said, “Seeing the cold numbers, it just feels like numbers. Seeing the yellow peach cans, it feels like life should be more passionate than the sun.” Unfortunately, on this land where the sun cannot shine, some lives are withering so quietly that we are doing our best, and we can’t even complete the effort to piece together the names of the 10 girls who died.
In the comments on “ttt”’s homepage, netizen “Hutong Chuanzi” said, “My daughter met them in the national competition in Weifang last year. Today she told me that five people in WeChat, only one is still alive.” Another netizen “Dan” said, “I know 6 who can’t come back…” If there was no this collapse disaster, they should have met again in the national competition in August this year, but now it is “meeting by chance, but unable to see each other again.”
Among the students who died, there may also be a girl named “Mingming.” Da Tu Tu said in an earlier video, “Mingming is the cutest child in the world.”
In Da Tu Tu’s video, netizen “O” recognized “the short-haired girl who was found last.” Netizen “Professor Xue” replied, “How did you know this specific person?” She replied, “Because I saw that the child rescued at the end had short hair and a round little head, and there was only one child with short hair in all the group photos, so I made the judgment…” In another video, Da Tu Tu said her name was Lin Zi. Based on this, the child found at the end is most likely Lin Hongyu.
Under the social media account of the lucky girl who took leave and didn’t go to training, there are two names, one is Wei Yuxin and the other is Yu Huixin. Facing the question, she answered, “They have passed away.” There are also two girls whose names are unknown, but she told netizens, “The sisters on my left and right in Figure 2 are both gone,” and the one behind her who was not injured is one of the four lucky ones who escaped from the gymnasium on their own.
There is also a girl named Nie Yufei, who once appeared in Da Tu Tu’s @ list. Her good friend commented under a video on June 29, “Feifei, do you remember me? I’m Caicai, we all miss you, we won’t forget you, you have to play ball with your friends in heaven, and live a good and peaceful life over there, okay?”
There is also a girl named Jiaojiao who likes “Grave Robber’s Notes,” and she is also gone…
These are all the names I could find, which may not mean much, but they may also be the best memorial, just like the words written by Da Tu Tu, “But I have already regarded you as family, don’t forget me, remember to miss me…”
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