29-Year-Old Sichuan Man Dies Volunteering in Guangxi Flood Relief: He Carried Hope to the Trapped, but Fell on the Mountain Road

Guangxi Daily reported on July 21 that just days after Dang Xinrui had set out for Yunnan on a trip, his father, Dang Qing, received a late-night call from the Sanli Police Station in Qintang District, Guigang: "Your son has had an accident; he is in Guangxi." The father was struck as if by a thunderbolt and rushed from Chengdu, Sichuan, to the unfamiliar place.

When they met again, his tall, strapping son had forever closed his eyes, his clothes caked with mud.

After the floods, volunteer teams trekked into the mountains carrying relief supplies.

On July 14, the 29-year-old Dang Xinrui and his companions hiked for six hours along muddy mountain roads, carrying heavy supplies on their backs into the old village of Heyuan in Zhenlong Township, Hengzhou City, Nanning, which had been cut off by floodwaters. They set down their loads, rested briefly, and then left one by one. Yet he suddenly collapsed on the way back.

Why had he traveled so far to be here? What exactly had happened in his final days?

The last trek: six hours on the mountain road

Earlier, Dang Qing had learned from the media that Guangxi was "suffering severe flooding these past few days," but he never in any way connected it with his son.

Torrential rains brought by Typhoon "Maysak" caused severe flooding across many parts of Guangxi. In the mountainous Zhenlong Township of Hengzhou City, Nanning, multiple landslides and road collapses occurred; viewed from the air they looked like vast exposed wounds. In some villages, water, electricity, communications, and transportation were cut off for a time, and food, drinking water, and other daily necessities could not be delivered to the disaster area.

The Wuli Township of Qintang District, Guigang, borders Zhenlong Township and served as a relief supplies distribution point. On the afternoon of July 13, a group of young strangers arrived there and met Huang Jinda, the leader of the old-village villagers' group of Heyuan in Zhenlong Township, who had just completed a supply run the day before. They had hoped Huang would guide them into the mountains, but he declined.

"We carried things in on our backs; it took over eight hours to get into the village and another four to get back. The weather was muggy and not a single piece of clothing stayed dry. We were just too exhausted — I needed to rest," Huang said.

After discussion, they decided that two volunteers who had entered the mountains the previous day would lead the way, using the route tracks recorded on their sports watches. Worried after his own ordeal entering the mountains, Huang went to a pharmacy and bought dozens of boxes of Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid and glucose to distribute to the volunteers for emergencies, repeatedly urging them to stay safe.

Dang Xinrui's phone album preserves photos of the volunteers entering the mountains.

At 5 a.m. on July 14, before dawn had fully broken and with the air still cool, the young people parked their car beside an old hydropower station at the foot of the mountains in Shuixian Village, Sanli Township, Qintang District. With the road ahead destroyed, they abandoned the vehicle and plunged on foot into the vast forest. Dang Xinrui was one of them.

They quickened their pace along the footprints of those before them, though at times they still sank into the mire up to their knees and had to pull each leg free step by step. Each person carried a backpack of about 15 kilograms, stuffed with medicine, vegetables, and other urgently needed supplies. Ahead lay endless mud and brush; the only sounds were labored breathing and the squelch of soles sinking into and pulling out of the muck.

Six hours later, at 11 a.m., when the soaked, flushed group appeared at the village entrance, the villagers were heartbroken and quickly arranged motorcycles and carts to take the heavy loads off their backs.

After finishing the congee the villagers handed them, the volunteer team rested barely half an hour before setting off back.

That was the last image Dang Xinrui left the village — tall, handsome, silently gasping for breath, wringing out his sweat-soaked clothes. The villagers did not know him; they only knew that, like the other volunteers, he had trudged uncomplainingly into the mountains solely to offer help in a time of need.

Around 5 p.m. on July 14, Huang Jinda, still in Guigang, received a call saying a volunteer had suffered heatstroke somewhere in the Sanli Township area, though the exact location was unclear and 120 had already been called.

Huang was anxious and rushed over at once. With poor signal at the scene, he found higher ground to maintain contact with the outside.

A selfie Dang Xinrui took upon arriving at Heyuan Village, Zhenlong Township, Hengzhou City, Nanning.

His young life could not be saved after all

At 5:19 p.m. on July 14, the People's Hospital of Qintang District, Guigang, received the 120-transferred emergency call, and emergency physician Li Jinjun immediately led medical staff to the scene.

According to the Qintang District police, when Dang Xinrui and his companion entered the Tangtou Village area of Sanli Township, he suddenly felt dizzy. His companion let him rest a while, but he insisted on walking another 300-odd meters before lapsing into unconsciousness. The companion performed CPR while waiting for the ambulance.

But Sanli Township was also severely hit by the disaster — the roads were narrow and muddy, and the ambulance could only go so far before it could proceed no further. The medical staff had to get out, pick up their rescue equipment, and trek for over 20 minutes, reaching the scene at 6:04 p.m.

When Li examined him, Dang Xinrui's pupils were already dilated and his breathing and heartbeat had stopped. The medical team would not give up; they established an IV line on site, administered rescue medication, used a CPR device, and even performed endotracheal intubation. The effort continued for over three hours until nightfall.

Yet, due to heart failure from overexertion, the young life could not be saved. He had come all this way to support disaster relief, but before he could properly get to know everyone, he came to a halt in the forests of a foreign land.

Dang Xinrui's phone album preserves photos of the volunteers entering the mountains.

"What a pity," Li Jinjun said in a low voice. "We will always be grateful to him and remember him."

Through the investigation and inquiries of the relevant departments, the identity of this post-90s young man gradually came to light.

Dang Xinrui was a staff member at Meishan East Station, under the Chengdu Depot of China Railway Chengdu Bureau Group Co., Ltd. On July 9, he took annual leave to travel to Yunnan. When he saw in a WeChat group that Guangxi had been hit by disaster and urgently needed volunteers to carry supplies into the mountains, he immediately changed his plans, took a high-speed train alone from Yunnan straight to Nanning, and — without time to rest properly — joined the rescue team made up of volunteers from all over.

"These volunteers paid two or three thousand yuan of travel costs out of their own pockets to come from all corners of the country. Strangers to one another, they worked harder than family," Huang Jinda told the reporter. The villagers did not have time to ask the tall young man's name and lost the chance to thank him, feeling deeply reluctant and sorrowful.

In the eyes of family and friends, he was always ready to help

Who could accept such a departure without farewell?

On the morning of July 16, Dang Qing arrived in Guigang and saw his child for the last time, sinking into deep sorrow.