A mission to evacuate the Diamond Princess

It could be a matter of life and death, and Liu Danhong wasn't sure how to put the question to the 20 Japanese bus drivers summoned to an urgent meeting.

Over 300 residents of Hong Kong and Macao were in limbo, stranded aboard the Diamond Princess in Yokohama Harbor in Tokyo, after a passenger who had disembarked from the ship tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"Would you help transport my compatriots on the Diamond Princess cruise ship to the airport?" she finally asked. Liu, a Chinese expatriate in Japan, had hired these drivers over a span of 20 years.

The room fell silent, then suddenly buzzed. The risk of exposure to potential carriers of the coronavirus was on everyone's mind.

Three days before, Liu received a call from the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo. The embassy official asked if Liu could provide 15 buses to help the passengers break out of their confinement and come home.

Liu contacted three other bus companies and got a commitment for five buses. But the offer was withdrawn on Feb 18, when the Japanese government announced that 542 of about 3,700 passengers and staff on board had come down with COVID-19, as the coronavirus spread quickly.

She could provide 15 buses. As she stood before her drivers that night, the pressing question was: Would anybody be willing to drive those buses?

The first flight chartered by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government was scheduled to take off 28 hours later.

"I was caught between two emotions. I wanted a 'yes' from them. But I didn't want them to become victims of the virus," Liu said in a video interview with China Daily.

Fleet of buses departs

When the anxiety reached a climax, Liu saw a senior driver stand up. In his 50s, the driver said: "Our boss was among the first to offer help to Japanese people in the March 11 earthquake of 2011. This is our chance to do something in return."

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, setting off a tsunami that wreaked havoc on the northeast coast and resulted in the world's second-worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl. Many had come to the aid of Japan, including many from China.

One, two, three. One after one, the drivers stood up and said yes. At the end of the meeting, 15 drivers had signed up for operation, with the oldest aged 64 while the youngest was 50.

"Beyond words," she recalled.

The fleet of buses arrived at the Yokohama port at 4:30 pm on Feb 19. Zhan Kongchao, consul general of the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, waiting at the pier, handed the drivers protective suits and other gear.

"I asked the embassy and Hong Kong's Security Bureau to provide all necessary protective equipment to my drivers. Their safety is my priority," Liu said.

The bus that led the fleet hung a banner reading "Let's go home." It was Liu's idea. She has lived in Japan for 30 years, and shared their feelings about missing home.

"I am not good with words. But I was sure 'Let's go home' was the wish in every passenger's heart," she said.

Japan's health ministry reported 414 Chinese were on board the Diamond Princess — 21 from the mainland, 364 from Hong Kong, five from Macao, and 24 from Taiwan.

Hong Kong passengers disembarked from the vessel around 10:30 pm on Feb 19. Several were seen taking selfies in front of the banner. In their faces, Liu saw happiness and excitement.

After transporting the first 106 Hong Kong passengers to Haneda Airport around midnight, the buses returned to base to be thoroughly disinfected. It was not until 7 am on Feb 20 that drivers could finally take a rest.

The 15 drivers worked shifts to complete the three-day evacuation that helped 188 Hong Kong passengers get back home.

No regrets

After the mission, the drivers volunteered to undergo quarantines in the office, instead of hotel rooms Liu offered to provide.

"They told me they would not like to cost the company more money as they gathered the mission would hammer the company's business," Liu said.

The concerns became reality. After words got out that Liu's buses had transported passengers aboard the Diamond Princess, 70 percent of her company's orders were canceled. She was diagnosed with mild depression after all the stress.

But Liu said she has no regrets about her decision. "I agreed to help and I intended to finish the mission," she said.

On Saturday, Liu and the 15 drivers' test results for the virus came back negative.

Then, Liu and her colleagues were "surprised and moved" by the many gifts sent from China. "They thought they were just doing their jobs. They were so happy," Liu said.

The Chinese is now working with her Japanese employees to get business back on track. Liu believes their bonds have strengthened, which could probably be said of the many Japanese and Chinese who weathered the outbreak together.