Man trapped in container after night out drinking

A home-grown version of The Hangover took place at Qingdao port in Shandong province on Aug 9 when a man woke to find himself trapped in a container after drinking all night with friends. He was eventually released by police after an almost three-hour search.

The man, surnamed Jiang, from Qingdao's Pingdu county, said he drank with colleagues at a restaurant till 4 am in Huangdao where his work is located. He remembered being taken to a taxi and asked to be sent to his dormitory but found he was locked in a pitch dark container when he woke.

He called his supervisor, surnamed Li, who called the police but Jiang had no information about where the container was.

"Jiang called me at 7 am this morning, and told me he could feel the container had been hoisted up and he could barely breathe due to the hot temperature but he didn't know which company the container belonged to, let alone its location," said Li.

Forty policemen and auxiliary police officers were immediately sent to search for Jiang as it was thought he might suffocate if not found in time given the tightness and temperature in the container.

Police started a thorough search across the Qianwan freight yard, one of three harbors at Qingdao port. The largest container yard in China, Qianwan spreads across 2.25 million square meters.

Police told Jiang to keep faith, knock on the wall of the container with his belt buckle and to look for information indicating its ownership.

By 8:30 am, Jiang began to suffer a severe headache and tight chest and his voice was weak but he finally found a line of container codes that he told police. Police and the port staff quickly narrowed down the search to a specific 10,000 sq m yard and the logistics company that owned the yard stopped operations and sent 60 workers to join the search team.

At 9:30 am, the rescuers heard some faint knocks and located Jiang's sleeping place on the fourth level, about 20 meters above ground. A yard worker climbed up and opened the container and handed a bottle of water to Jiang.

Jiang soon recovered after breathing fresh air and drinking water. He thanked police and the workers but didn't want to give interviews.

The container he was trapped in was loaded at 6 am that morning and about to be sent to the US the next day, according to staff at the yard.