The fateful business trip of two Nghe An traffic officers

(Baonghean.vn) - The familiar road that engineers Pham Van Chung and Thai Huy Hao had passed many times, who would have thought that the wind and rain would leave them here forever. The storm has passed but the storm in people's hearts will last forever.

» Nghe An Department of Transport officer dies while inspecting traffic infrastructure after storm

Vinh City was flooded with sunshine after a day of storms and rain. People returned to their daily lives with hustle and bustle on familiar streets that had been cleaned up after the collapse.

Few people know that last night, a sleepless night seemed to be the longest for the relatives of the two traffic engineers Thai Huy Hao (1986) and Pham Van Chung (1975) and their brothers and colleagues in the Nghe An Department of Transport. Those who brought them back from Xop Chao, Dong Van, Que Phong through the dark night were filled with endless sadness...

In the house near the windy Goong Lake, the small yard of Mr. Thai Huy Hao was full of people coming to share the pain. The place where he lay was also the place where he used to play with his two sons (one 5 years old, the other 3 years old) when they had a break from work.

Engineer Thai Huy Hao (sitting outside) with colleagues. Photo: PV

The young wife, startled in her white mourning band, looked at her husband's face through the frosted glass on the coffin lid. She couldn't believe that he was gone. She thought that in a little while, or at the latest tomorrow, he would return. "Mr. Hao, surely this is just a nightmare, right?" She said to his closed eyes, she said without knowing how many people around her were silently shedding tears.

The two boys were too young to understand why, after just one flood, they could forever lose an arm, forever lose the tall shadow that bent down to wake them up every day, lose the chest, the broad back - still an interesting "playground" for them.

Teacher Thai Huy Vinh - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training was petrified next to his son's coffin. Just overnight, he felt like he had lived half a lifetime. His hair, with many silver strands, was hanging down next to his green hair, still in the incense smoke.

He had just lost a son, the only son in the family. The gentle, talented, and thoughtful son in whom he had placed so much hope. The son he believed would continue his unfinished youthful dreams, the son who needed only one look from his father to understand more than a thousand words he had to say…

Young, dynamic but also very calm is the personality of young engineer Thai Huy Hao. Photo: FB

And right there, in the corner of the small room, the lights were on all night just the night before. That’s the job of a traffic engineer, with drawings and meticulous, detailed calculations, not allowing for any mistakes. Just one concrete column with incorrect specifications can cause an entire bridge to collapse.

As a young, skilled, dedicated engineer, Hao did not allow himself a moment of rest while the work was still unfinished, when the storm was about to come. How many roads, how many construction sites… would be damaged. How many villages would be cut off. How many people’s lives would hang on the flood waves…

“Since hearing the news of the storm, and receiving instructions from the Ministry of Transport, we have been on duty since July 15 and 16. Hao, like us, must have stayed up for two nights. The most worrying thing is the flood in remote areas of the province. Strangely enough, he is young but every time he goes on a business trip, he always takes care of the arrangements for everyone in the group.

At work, he is talented, intelligent, and creative. But for his family, we also respect the way he takes care of and loves his wife and children. Hao's wife was a classmate in high school. The two of them must have had a beautiful love that lasted forever, until each went to a different school and job and they came back together under the same roof," said Mr. Nguyen Thac Hung, an officer of Nghe An Department of Transport.

From the days of being classmates at Huynh Thuc Khang High School, to becoming lovers and then wives, Ms. Nguyen Mai Le (Vinh University lecturer) and Mr. Thai Huy Hao have had many memories together. Knowing that his job is extremely hard, but loving him, Mai Le also loved the sun, the wind, the dust on her husband's shirt every time he went to the construction site.

2 young children, husband working away from home all the time, but that's the job of a bridge engineer, I have a hard time with only one child, but he has a hard time tenfold, with lonely, cold meals, with the whirlwind of missing his children, so Mai Le always shares and encourages her husband.

“Because he is a good officer, we invited Hao to the Department of Transport when he was working at the General Construction Corporation of Transport Works 4. Hao worked as Deputy Head of Technical Department - Department of Management of Transport Economic Career Capital under the Nghe An Department of Transport.

We all feel Hao's dedication and modesty, so he is always loved and respected by his colleagues. The Department's leaders still consider him a leading cadre, planning for development. Hao's job requires him to always go on routes to check, handle, and evaluate technical problems and incidents. Hao always comes up with the best solutions.

Therefore, he was always a busy person, always the one going into difficult places... Who would have thought that Hao would pass away on the same familiar road that he had traveled hundreds of times", - Director of Nghe An Department of Transport Nguyen Hong Ky said.

On the same fateful car that day, the driver was Mr. Pham Van Chung. The house on Nguyen Truong To Street, when everyone came to say goodbye, was missing the old mother. Over 80 years old, the pain of losing her child made her collapse.

No one dared to take her back to her son's house, which was also the house where she lived every day for many years with Chung and his wife. She had lost her husband many years ago, had lost a son in an accident, and now had lost her remaining son.

His wife, Bui Thi Hang, a kindergarten teacher, has been fainting since hearing the news of her husband's death. Their three children, the eldest son, who is in 10th grade this year, the second daughter, who is in 5th grade, and the youngest son, who is in 1st grade this year, are still bewildered with teary eyes.

Mr. Pham Van Chung on an inspection trip at Thanh Nam suspension bridge (Con Cuong). Photo: FB.

Mr. Tho, a colleague and also a relative of Mr. Chung, shared: Mr. Chung is the pillar of a large family. Mr. Chung's parents have 2 sons, one of whom died in an accident. His wife's family has 2 siblings, but the younger brother also died, leaving only Ms. Hang.

Understanding the heavy burden of his role, he worked very hard. Just look at his path to becoming an engineer: After graduating from high school, he went to study electronics. After working for a while, he applied to work in Korea. After 3 years, he returned to study and took the exam to enter the Faculty of Bridges and Roads, University of Construction (studying at Vinh University). Then, with diligence, today he has become the Deputy Director of Trung Tin Joint Stock Company.

Gentle, patient, hard-working, and filial are the feelings of the neighbors about Pham Van Chung. In the family, not only is he the one who takes care of the finances, Pham Van Chung also fulfills the role of a son, a husband, and a father, making everyone admire him.

“With Chung gone, I wonder how Hang and her family will survive?” A neighbor came to express his condolences.

“After 13 years working at Trung Tin Company, from a mere technical officer, Pham Van Chung has become an officer with a lot of practical experience, always completing the most difficult tasks well. He was considered and promoted by the Company to the position of Deputy Director in charge of engineering. Whenever floods hit Nghe An, we always have to have a leader like Chung to accompany the Inspection Team of the Department of Transport.

Mr. Chung is a person who is closely associated with National Highway 16, when we had 3 packages on this route, of which Chung himself was in charge of constructing 2 packages. It can be said that this is a road that Chung knows by heart. Yet the unfortunate incident happened…”, said Mr. Tran Quang Trung, Director of Trung Tin Joint Stock Company.

It can be said that the two masters - engineers Thai Huy Hao and Pham Van Chung had an accident right on the road that they have been attached to for many years. The vital road (National Highway 16) to bring the mountainous and lowland areas closer together, to prevent villages from being separated, to make the lives of people in remote areas no longer difficult...

The crashed car carrying two officers was found on the afternoon of July 17 in Que Phong. Photo: Hung Cuong

Surely on that fateful day, you walked on the familiar road that was once full of sunshine but also stormy, your hearts filled with worries and love.

They knew that at this time, work became more difficult and stressful than ever, they knew that the wind would eventually stop and the rain would eventually clear, but they still did not expect that in just a moment, the storm would erase the road ahead, erase their lives, leaving only the endless white of the rain that had not yet stopped and the last thoughts of the things that worried and loved them.

They found you in the pickup truck, submerged in the abyss. Your arms are still reaching out… Arms that traced the path, now raised in vain.

And in the hundreds of footsteps on the peaceful roads today, the roads that connect the lives of many people, of the Kinh, Mong, Tho, Thai people..., there are people like Chung and Hao who have passed away.

Thuy Vinh - Thanh Le