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Typhoon Maisak Floods... Chinese College Submerged
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Carries More Passengers Than Rubber Boats Per Trip

In China, social networking services (SNS) have released images showing the use of easily foldable and deployable modular barges in regions affected by flooding caused by a typhoon, helping rescue many people.

According to reports from the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and others on July 16, Guangxi Vocational and Technical College of Logistics in Guigang, southern China, was hit by flooding up to five meters deep due to Typhoon Maishak, the 10th typhoon of the year, leaving thousands of students and faculty members stranded. In response, China Anneng Construction Group, a state-owned emergency rescue agency, deployed three folding barges to the flooded area. Over the course of about 11 hours from July 8 to 9, the rescue team successfully evacuated more than 6,000 people to safety.

Students and faculty members of Guangxi Vocational and Technical College of Logistics in Guizhou, southern China, are evacuating on a folding barge. Yonhap News

Measuring approximately 60 meters in length, eight meters in width, and with a load capacity of 60 tons, the barge is designed with a modular structure. It is also equipped with its own propulsion, enabling it to travel at around 10.8 kilometers per hour even when fully loaded. The rescue agency stated that it was able to deploy the barge on site in just over ten minutes. According to the website of barge manufacturer China Harzone Industry, the barge can be used in extreme environments, such as high-altitude regions at 3,300 meters above sea level or in extremely cold areas. This company is a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation. Before the barges were introduced, the rescue team had to rely on rubber lifeboats, which could only evacuate a very limited number of people at a time, posing significant challenges to rescue operations.

Meanwhile, vivid videos of the rescue operations at the scene became a major topic on Chinese social media. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also shared the footage on X (formerly Twitter), introducing it as China's "real-life Transformers." The barge’s mechanism of folding and unfolding resembled the robots from the Hollywood movie "Transformers." Chinese social media users who watched the clip commented, "It looks just like a waterborne rescue aircraft carrier," and "It looks very safe."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.