On this day, 36 years ago, May 4, 1989 (March 29, 1989, the cause of the explosion of the Yangtze River oil barge was ascertained. On January 2, 1989, the cause of the oil barge explosion accident that occurred at Xintan Estuary of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province was announced on May 4: the direct cause of this major accident was caused by the Yangtze River 62008 jacking oil barge team encountering sandbags in the channel. At 1:15 a.m. on January 2, the Yangtze River 62008 oil barge fleet of Nanjing Yangtze River Oil Transportation Company, which was sailing from Nanjing to Linxiang, Hunan Province, suddenly exploded and caught fire on the Xintankou River of Honghu, Hubei Province, causing direct economic losses of more than 1 million yuan. After the accident, the State Council organized relevant ministries and commissions and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions to establish a joint investigation team. After three months of investigation and analysis, it was found that the direct cause of the major accident was that the oil tanker barge team encountered difficult to detect irregular sandbags in the channel, causing the fleet to run aground, break cables, disperse and collide with each other. The sparks generated met and exploded and caught fire with the combustible gas in the oil tank.