Chapter 586: An emergency call from the White House.
The Saga Sapphire is a cruise ship built in 1981 for Hapag-Lloyd under the name Europa, is 150 meters long and 20 meters wide and is equipped with two gasoline engines with a total output of 12,000 horsepower, was in an unprecedented situation.
One of its two engines had suffered a major failure, causing the loss of power to the left propeller. If the weather was calm and the sea was calm too, the Sapphire could still run at full power with a single engine of fuel and slowly return to port on its own, but the huge waves coming towards it were higher than its waterline and faced with this strong wind and waves of such great height, it could only continue to turn in place.
It should be mentioned that in the j.a.pan Trench area. Even though it is only 67 nautical miles from the port, the water depth below the Sapphire is over two miles. Its anchor of several hundred meters could only cry in secret as it watched the deep sea.
“This is the dispatch center. Please stay stable and try not to face the waves with the hull. We will do our best to find and send rescue forces.”
“d.a.m.n, you have to send a rescue team right now,” shouted Brady, the captain of the sapphire.
The c.o.xswain on the side was tired and almost collapsed. The rudder of a half-man size was turned into a windmill by him, trying to maintain the ship’s position against the huge waves. There were already screams in the ship’s luxurious guest bedroom. The tourists here were all high society people and lived in the shade of clothes and temples all day long; did they experience that kind of turmoil there at home?
“Son, I’m in the seas of j.a.pan. The Sapphire I travel on met a stormy day. Now it seems to be malfunctioning and it’s going around in circles. If anything happens to me, please take care of your mother and be strong. Do not be sad that I am leaving.”
“My dear, are you there? I’m on the Sapphire now. If you hear the message now and I don’t continue to contact you, then it’s likely I’ve had an accident. My account pa.s.sword is my birthday, and I have three accounts; they’re at Citigroup, Morgan, and Wells Fargo. Plus, I also have a stock account at Ruitong. There’s a lot of money in there … well, there is a lot of money. Remember, Apple shares sell for $ 150 a share, if I will go in heaven be happy.”
“Dad ~ I’m on sapphire with Claris, and we encountered heavy rain and strong winds. I’m so scared, now the cruise ship is also broken, and I don’t want to die. Dad, you’re asking my Uncle Lackey from the US Air Force stationed in Guam to send a helicopter to rescue me.”
The Sapphire is equipped with the latest satellite communication systems and radio, and all the room has a telephone. Taking advantage of the fluidity of communication, now almost all pa.s.sengers have started calling home. Everyone was in despair.
Through the portholes, tourists could see the huge sea waves outside, raging on the Sapphire. This boat was in these huge waves like a rag doll bouncing on an air mattress.
The crew report and the tourists’ phone calls were returned to the United States, and their family members exploded. Their loved ones are in the waves, and the ship could capsize at any time.
This sort of thing didn’t fall apart on just anyone. They immediately used their connections. They lobbied the mainstream media, the government, and the Royal Galle Cruises Group, asking them to come up with a bailout now, immediately, and very immediately.
After tens of minutes, the whole country shook even President Donald Trump immediately put everything in his hands and called a press conference for White House reporters.
The chairman of Royal Galle Cruises Group flew to j.a.pan on a chartered flight. At the same time, the major news sites used their best rights to promote this news.
[One hundred thousand in a hurry ~ More than two hundred tourists are trapped in the seas of j.a.pan, and their lives are in danger at all times.]
[The Sapphire, one of the ten largest luxury cruise ships in the world, has been trapped in j.a.panese waters by a storm and can sink at any time.]
[SOS ~ who will save the Sapphire.]
The media bombed the nest collectively, and even internet users from across the country followed the bombing of the nest with their own bombs.
[Nowadays, in the 21st century, in today’s advanced technology, is this going on really? Does everyone stand still and watch a luxury cruise ship carrying over two hundred tourists sink under the attention of people from all over the country at all times?]
In the emergency team set up by the White House, the mood was suddenly choked with the list of people in the Sapphire ship; this list was given by the staff of the cruise company, the Royal Caribbean Group.
There were 120 crew members and 221 pa.s.sengers. Among those pa.s.sengers were retired senior lawyers and retired business executives. There were also the parents and wives of the Wall Street elites, and there were also the families of lawmakers.
……
It is no wonder that if the Sapphire cruise ship is calculated based on its size, it can be considered luxurious if it carries thousands of people. Now, the entire cruise ship only serves over two hundred people, and the residence is also a luxurious room comparable to a Presidential Suite, and most people can’t really afford this luxury.
……
After half an hour, the news spread around the world. European countries and major Chinese news sites reported these shocking headlines.
[Shocked, due to a severe weather forecast error from j.a.pan, a cruise ship owned by the United States will fall into a deep hole.]
[Urgent important news, the j.a.panese Meteorological Service caused a terrible disaster.]
[A luxury cruise ship becomes a push cruise ship, let’s pray for the Sapphire. Please pray.]
However, media around the world heard the news and rushed to send photographers and reporters to the nearest sea area where Sapphire is located. The media and the j.a.panese government were silent at the time. Even ~ even the Uradake Island Expedition Center in Miyano had become reluctant.
Under frantic questioning from the United States and anger from the mainstream media and the American people, the j.a.panese Coast Guard rushed to release information.
They had put in a whole procedure to launch the rescue, but the sea area where the Sapphire was located became more and more stormy, moreover, it is impossible for a helicopter to fly over the boat to transfer the pa.s.sengers and ordinary ships cannot approach the Sapphire at all in this situation, because, thanks to the waves, the closer they are, the more likely they are to collide with each other ~ but ~ they still mobilized five speedboats, and the crew of these stars risked their lives to get to the maritime zone. Unsurprisingly, the first batch of high-speed boats could arrive in twenty minutes.
At the same time, the US Meteorological Department also collected the latest local weather data via satellite. Data showed that above this sea area, a torrential rain cloud was gathering in the sky at this time.
……
Due to the high temperature of the previous week, the water temperature increased and the proportion of seawater vaporization was large, which caused an increase in airflow, forming a tropical storm. Now the local wind has reached 9.5 and it seems to get stronger and stronger, when it goes up to 10 it will turn into a typhoon.
……
Twenty minutes later, five speedboats eagerly sailing through huge waves finally arrived at the scene.
At the strong request of the leaders of the United States, the travel agency had to broadcast the images of the scene live from the internal cameras of the Sapphire boat.
When mainstream US media streamed the footage received from Sapphire in real time, countless people covered their lips and couldn’t breathe as they saw all the landscaping facilities and buildings on the bridge. Sapphire had been completely destroyed by the waves.
When family members saw the live footage on the news, they were nearly pa.s.sed out in grief and many people who specified the location of this sea zone online asked the U.S. Air Force in Guam, thousands of kilometers away, to send rescue planes. In their impression, the US Air Force is omnipotent, fighting the world, fighting aliens, and fighting monsters.
This time, the Guam Air Base did less well than j.a.pan. There is only one sentence from start to finish: “When local weather conditions allow, we will send a plane as soon as possible.”
The five speedboats that pa.s.sed on the spot only sailed for half an hour, and three of them could no longer hold out and had to turn around and come back. Because they have to keep moving high, hitting the waves over and over again, and they don’t even dare to approach the Sapphire.
At 2:08 p.m., the White House spokesman issued the most anxious call for help to media around the world.
“On behalf of the US government, I would like to send the most sincere appeal for help to the countries near the sea where Sapphire is located ~ whatever ~ any government official, organization or company, as long as you have the ability, please save the Sapphire.”
As soon as the news broke, the whole world screamed.
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