On the morning of July 27, a minibus carrying 12 people in Datong City, Shanxi Province, lost contact while traveling. All passengers on board were migrant workers, with the youngest being only 19 years old who had just completed the college entrance examination.
According to a post on the WeChat official account “Datong Release” at 5:08 am on July 27, a 12-seater Iveco minibus in Tianzhen County, Datong City went missing near Guqianbu Town due to heavy rain.
A video posted by a Shanxi netizen showed, “A minibus carrying 12 people in Datong, Shanxi was swept away by floodwaters. Most passengers were middle-aged and elderly women who were heading to the greenhouse to pick peppers to supplement their household income. Due to frequent heavy rain recently, around 5 am, the minibus was swept away by floodwaters while crossing a bridge. Both the vehicle and passengers lost contact.”
Many Shanxi netizens commented in the video section, mentioning that most passengers on board were middle-aged women going to the greenhouse to pick peppers, earning 130 yuan per day. As the surrounding villages were already flooded, people were evacuating. Originally, there were more than 30 people on board, some didn’t go, but these passengers went as usual, only to be swept away by the flood. Among them was a student who was working a summer job, “Only 19 years old, on his way to work during the summer break. Sigh, just finished the college entrance exam, did quite well, scoring over 600 points.”
In the afternoon of July 27, officials at the Tianzhen County Government in Datong City informed The Paper that the missing minibus had not been located yet. The passengers on board were all migrant workers, and the missing vehicle was not a public transportation minibus.
According to a report by Jimo News, as of 1:43 pm on the 27th, one body was found downstream from the incident site. Upon confirmation, it was identified as one of the missing persons.
In a post on the WeChat official account “Shanxi News Network Broadcast,” since the 23rd, heavy rainfall in the northern and central parts of Shanxi Province has caused multiple rivers to flood, with the precipitation still ongoing.