The section of the Grand Canal in north Jiangsu witnessed busy traffic flow during this year’s spring festival. The 451-kilometer-long canal in northern Jiangsu is known as the "Golden Waterway" on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The water level is 33 meters wide and is regulated by 30 large-scale ship locks. It is one of the busiest inland waterways in China.
With the arrival of the Spring Festival travel rush, water transport traffic also ushered in the busiest season. These days, the major ship locks along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the northern part of Jiangsu are undergoing a comprehensive physical examination. The object in the shape of a torpedo is called the side sonar specially designed for underwater physical examination.
The sonar equipment detected that several tires fell to the vicinity of the lock gate. The tires, if not salvaged in time, will be washed by the water to the gate, affecting the gate closure.
The on-site commander decided to send the underwater frogman for the salvage. Luo Zhongchi, who is responsible for this dive, is 39 years old. He has been engaged in diving for 20 years. With the help of two teammates, he wore a heavy wetsuit and prepared to go down to a depth of six or seven meters.
Although the location of the tire is roughly known, the virtually zero visibility due to underwater turbidity made underwater maintenance and troubleshooting almost impossible other than done by the diver's familiarity with the lock structure.
In more than an hour, Luo Zhongchi eliminated the underwater faults and safety hazards one by one. His hands were already frozen and red because of long time immersion in cold water.
According to Luo Zhongchi, in the complex situation, they even have to work continuously for several hours in such an environment.
In the Jiangsu Province Ship Lock Emergency Support Center, which is known as the "Ship Lock Hospital", there are 10 divers like Luo Zhongchi. They are like doctors that are responsible for the emergency support tasks of 28 large ship locks in section of the Grand Canal in the northern part of Jiangsu and guarding the locks round the clock.
As the main artery of water transportation in East China, the section of the Grand Canal in the northern part of Jiangsu undertakes more than one-third of the province's transportation of key materials such as coal, grain, agricultural and sideline products. During this year's water spring transport, the ship throughput of the section of the Grand Canal in the northern part of Jiangsu is expected to reach 208 million tons.
