This article is from WeChat public account:mantoutalk, author: bread masters, drawing from the title: vision China

1

November 24, 1979, 8 pm. China, Bohai Bay.

In the night, a jack-up rig was slowly towed at a speed of about 5 kilometers per hour. This drilling platform was imported from Japan in 1973 and used for offshore oil exploration.

This platform is actually a “second-hand goods”. It has been in service for five years before it was bought, but even so, this platform is also independently developed and produced by Dalian Shipyard in 1970. “To be more advanced.” In fact, in the era of “self-reliance”, the relevant departments will use valuable foreign exchange to buy a second-hand drilling platform from the Japanese, which has already indicated the urgent need for China’s offshore oil exploration work.

This rig, formerly known as the “Fuji”, was renamed “Bohai No. 2” after it began serving in China.

“Bohai 2” Drilling Platform

(must be up when towing) Span>, and the platform should keep a gap of 1 meter – this is in violation of the regulations, the padded pad and the platform should be closely fitted.

“Bohai 2”

Third, it’s bad weather.

This is one of the most worrying factors.

On November 24th, three meteorological stations in Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong issued a weather forecast: there will be a strong wind of 6 to 7 that night. According to the regulations, if there are more than 5 winds on the sea surface, it is not suitable for the drilling platform to drop the ship, but the relevant person in charge only informs the people on the drilling platform to let the weather decide on their own.

The leader clearly knows that the weather is not suitable, but emphasizes that time is tight, and still let you “determine yourself”. Who can understand the “voice-over”? Therefore, “Bohai No. 2” began to drag and drop with the wind and waves.

In the beginning, the sea was calm, but after 8 pm on the 24th, the waves began to grow louder, and the wind reached 8 to 9. At 11:10 in the evening, the big waves have already rushed onto the deck, and the platform has not been unloaded, the oxygen cylinders, the pile hammers, etc. have been unloaded, and some have fallen directly into the sea.

At this time, everyone’s heart began to get nervous. At 2 o’clock in the morning, the bell on the “Bohai No. 2” screamed violently.

3

The alarm bell sounded because the cabin mud pump switchboard on “Bohai No. 2” was in flames. The cause of the fire was that the cable hole in the deck leaked water during the storm, causing a short circuit. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the mud pump could not be started, which means that the seawater poured into the pump room could not be discharged.

This is not the worst.

At 2:10 in the morning, the third ventilator on the deck of “Bohai No. 2” was interrupted by wind waves from the roots – the ventilator was knocked out of the cap 2 hours ago and was just wrapped in crepe. The root of the ventilator is a 0.8-meter-diameter hole that is directly poured into the pump house from this large hole.

Liu Xue is busy organizing people to bring quilts and more crepe to fill this hole. However, at this time, the sea water has formed a water that has flooded the calf on the deck, so that the hole forms a whirlpool – the quilt and the crepe are thrown up and disappeared without a trace.

At this time, the No. 3 leg of “Bohai No. 2” has been obviously tilted. In the vast sea of ​​violent winds and waves, the platform of “Bohai No. 2” has already fallen.

The Bohai Bay is one of the three major bays in China’s Bohai Sea, covering an area of ​​15,900 square kilometers and rich in oil reserves

Liu Xue can only order everyone to put on a life jacket and go to the aircraft platform for assistance. At 3 o’clock in the morning, the “Binhai No. 282” tugboat responsible for hauling received a telegram from “Bohai No. 2”:

“The ventilator inlet water is out of control, request the tug to turn, let the platform sail on the top to protect the stern!”

“Beach 282” began to try to turn, but the wind and waves are too big, the steering failed.

At 3:10, “Bohai No. 2” sent an alert and distress signal to “Binhai 282”:

“My ship began to sink, and quickly rescue the cable!”

3:35, the crew on the “Beach 282” can no longer see the light of “Bohai No. 2”. “Bohai No. 2” sank.

The 74 crew members on the platform fell into the icy waters of the Bohai Bay at the end of November. At the crucial moment, the “Binhai 282” has not issued a distress signal, and it cannot issue the exact coordinates of the accident.

At that time, the “Daqing No. 9” tanker was less than 6 kilometers away from the “Bohai No. 2”. If the signal and coordinates were received, the rescue could be rushed to the scene within half an hour, but the first lifeboat was finally completed. It took only 40 minutes to set sail and arrived at the incident location after 7 hours.

After some efforts to salvage and salvage, only two crew members of “Bohai No. 2” were rescued, and the remaining 72 outstanding Chinese offshore oil workers were all killed.

4

The bad news came, shocked the offshore oil exploration bureau, shocked the oil ministry, and shocked the State Council. However, the situation of the first time after the accident was a bit confusing.

In the third day after the accident, the Marine Exploration Bureau reported to the Ministry of Petroleum that the investigation report stated that “the sudden storm is irresistible” and that “the weather is sudden, irresistible, and the command is correct. Rescue heroic.” The materials were reported to the Ministry of Petroleum, and Song Zhenming, then the Minister of Petroleum, changed the “equivalent to the wind above 10th level” proposed in the original report to “11th grade”.

On the other hand, the Offshore Oil Exploration Bureau held a commendation meeting, asking the whole system to learn from the victims of “Bohai No. 2” and continue to carry forward the spirit of “not afraid of hardship, not afraid of sacrifice.” Song Zhenming personally issued a report requesting the State Council to name the “Bohai 2” drilling fleet as “hero drilling fleet” and to identify 72 victims as martyrs.

In the propaganda, a reporter in the system organized by the Bureau of Exploration wrote a newsletter entitled “Bohai Soul”. For this kind of “funny fun”, some people in the party committee of the Bureau of Exploration had raised objections, but they were opposed and even criticized by others.

At the time, journalists including People’s Daily, Workers’ Daily and Tianjin Daily reported that the Central Committee and the Tianjin Municipal Committee did not express their views. The Bureau of Exploration also refused to accept interviews and opposed public reports, so they kept silent. Only Xinhua News Agency issued an internal reference.


However, the voices of the families of the victims are unstoppable:

“What is the sacred soul of the sea? It is a soul!”

“This is an ‘accident hero’!”

At the same time, people with different opinions also stood up.

Zhang Ping, the then director of the Labor Protection Bureau of the Ministry of Labor, said that he did not accept the final tone of the Ministry of Petroleum on “force majeure” and believed that it is likely to have management responsibility. In the end, the “Joint Investigation Team” was formed by the State Economic Commission, the Labor Protection Bureau, the National Federation of Trade Unions and relevant units in Tianjin. A survey report was re-issued and submitted directly to the Central Committee. That material was sent directly to the leaders of the country.

After a while, the Ministry of Oil was ordered to conduct a second round of investigations. The second round of investigations was submitted shortly afterwards:

This is a liability accident!

5

In May 1980, the national leaders who gradually learned about the accident began to speak.

The first person to speak was Bo Yibo, then the vice premier of the State Council and concurrently the director of the Machinery Committee of the State Council. In a conversation with the National Federation of Trade Unions and the Leader of the Workers’ Daily, he said:

“I often read the “Workers’ Daily”, but you always follow the National Economic Commission. I rarely see reports that reflect the rights of workers and reflect the opinions of workers… The Bohai No. 2 sank and died 72 Workers, newspapers should be boarded and act according to the Constitution. No one is fair to say, the officials are not well-guarded, and in the long run, there is no righteousness.

On June 20, Wan Li, then vice premier of the State Council, said at a meeting:

“The Workers’ Daily should speak for the workers, including criticizing the bureaucracy of factory leaders, department leaders, and state leaders. If you cover up such problems and cover up the contradictions that occur in our production, it does not mean that the workers speak. Then don’t do this journalist’s work, because you don’t speak for the workers. Be a journalist, don’t be afraid of offending which level of leadership. On behalf of the workers, the workers will feel like you are a newspaper of workers.”

In