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| Mr. Le Ngoc Thuy standing with his students of Huong Vinh High School |
During the recent flood, a boat carrying 8 people overturned while passing through fast-flowing flood waters at Huong Vinh ward, Hue city. Of the 6 people rescued, Le Ngoc Thuy saved 3 people amid the flood.
On the morning of November 15, 8 people from Huong So ward, Hue City took a boat to Phu Hau market. After shopping at the market, they got back to the boat and crossed the Bao Vinh Canal towards the Huong So resettlement area. When passing through the Hau Dam area, located in front of 251 Dang Tat Street at Huong Vinh ward, the boat was overturned, and all 8 passengers were swept away by the flood water.
At this time, it was raining heavily. The water rose very quickly. Most residential areas in the city of Hue and surrounding areas are vast in the flood water. Mr. Le Ngoc Thuy's house was next to Hau Dam. When he was tidying up his house upstairs, he heard someone shouting for help. The teacher immediately opened the door, quickly took a long pole, and ran down to the Hau Dam.
As he found out that many people were struggling in the middle of the fierce flood, regardless of danger, Thuy rushed into the fast-flowing water towards those who were trying to cling to tree branches floating down the river. Swimming along the water with a pole in his hand, within about 3 minutes, he brought 2 women and a girl of about 10 years old to safety. The image of the teacher trying to overcome the floods to save people during the recent flood has been admired by many people.
Mr. Thuy recounted it was raining very heavily at that time. The water was fast under Hau Dam canal. He saw 3 or 4 people being swept away in the middle of the water. The boatman and two other people swam in. In the canal near his position, there was a young mother and her 10-year-old daughter hugging each other, clinging to a tree branch for help. A few meters away, a woman was also clinging to a tree branch. He swam out and used the pole to pull 3 people to shore. When he brought 3 people safely to shore, he heard there were two more people, then swam downstream at Hau Dam to look for them but failed to find them.
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| For Le Ngoc Thuy (sitting on the far left), saving people in danger is a normal deed in life |
When being asked whether he was afraid to save people in dangerous situations, Mr. Thuy confided: “I am surely afraid of death. Yet, when seeing someone in distress, everyone would be just like me, trying to stay calm to save people. I believe saving people who are about to die is a normal deed, not a big deal. At that time, I myself had enough ability to react. Many other people would also think like I did, but they just did not have the ability. In my opinion, this is a normal deed in our everyday life.”
The Hau Dam canal area of Huong Vinh ward is located next to Bao Vinh Canal. As for local people, during the rainy season, this area's water flows rapidly and swirls very dangerously. In the above boat sinking incident, people safely rescued 6 passengers while a mother and her child were tragically swept away by floodwaters. If Mr. Thuy and the local citizens had not been present in time to save people, the consequences would have been more serious.
Mr. Le Ngoc Thuy's courageous action to save people in the flood is a beautiful image, becoming an example of a brave teacher who was not afraid of danger to save people's lives. Mr. Huynh Truong Than, Principal of Huong Vinh High School, said that the school would reward and praise Mr. Le Ngoc Thuy's brave action at the flag-raising ceremony early next week.
He said: "Mr. Thuy is passionate about his profession and is an excellent teacher of the province. He always cares for the weak, often helps people in need, and does charity work. Therefore, it was not surprising that he braved danger to save people. Mr. Thuy is also very humble. After saving people's lives, he went to school to clean up after the flood the next day. He accidentally told everyone about his deed only when I asked him about the boat capsizing incident near his house.”