A poor family in Nghe An province saved more than 50 people from jumping off a bridge.

Fighting for the life of someone who wants to die.

On the morning of October 22nd, immediately after rescuing another person who had jumped off the Ben Thuy 1 bridge, the family of Ms. Dau Thi Phuc (43 years old, residing in Block 15, Truong Vinh Ward, Nghe An Province) returned to their livelihood as fishermen. The man whose life they saved was also taken home by his relatives for care after his mental state stabilized.

"This is the third person we've rescued in the past 20 days. We're used to it now; saving one more person makes us happy, but then we have to go back to our daily lives," said Ms. Phuc's husband, Hoang Van Manh (45 years old), with a smile.

The small house of Ms. Phuc and her younger brother, Dau Van Toan (33 years old), is located right on the banks of the Lam River, about 100 meters downstream from Ben Thuy Bridge 1. On October 21st, as dinner was being served, Ms. Phuc and her husband heard shouts from the bridge. Suspecting someone had jumped off the bridge to commit suicide, Mr. Manh immediately put down his uneaten bowl of rice and called his brother-in-law to quickly jump into the boat and rush out to the middle of the river.

“It wasn’t dark yet, and looking up at the bridge, I saw a crowd gathered in one place looking down at the river, so I guessed they jumped from that spot. That’s how I was able to pinpoint and estimate the location so I could row my boat there to search,” said Dau Van Toan.

Born and raised by the river, Toan and his brothers know every wave of the Lam River that flows through their area like the back of their hand. Because of this, they have experience in assessing where someone who has just jumped into the river will be swept away by the current. As predicted, after only a few minutes of searching, the two brothers spotted the man struggling in the middle of the Lam River.

“When we swam over, the person had already started to sink. I had to quickly jump into the river, grab their hair, and pull them onto the boat. By then, they had been in the river for about six minutes,” Toan added.

Toan's brothers then took the man home, gave him first aid, warmed him up, and reported the incident to the police. Several hours later, when his health had recovered, his family picked him up. It was then that Toan's family learned that the man they had rescued was a 52-year-old resident of Vinh Loc ward. He had been drunk while angry with his wife and had stopped his vehicle on Ben Thuy bridge to attempt suicide.

Earlier, on October 2nd, while inside their house, Toan and his siblings heard loud shouts coming from Ben Thuy 1 Bridge. Searching the river by boat, they rescued an 18-year-old man from Truong Vinh ward who had jumped from the bridge in an attempted suicide. Two days later, on the evening of October 4th, the family rescued another person, a 12-year-old girl.

“The young man and the girl we rescued in early October were incredibly lucky. At that time, the flooding on the Lam River was very severe. Especially the 12-year-old girl who jumped from the Ben Thuy 2 bridge. By the time we received the call from the police asking for help, it had been quite a while, and the bridge was also far from our house. But when we rowed out, we were fortunate enough to save her in time,” said Ms. Dau Thi Phuc, adding that after being rescued, the girl, who lives in Ha Tinh, said she had been bullied at school and was feeling depressed, leading her to attempt suicide.

For over 20 years, making a living on this stretch of river, Ms. Phuc and her husband, along with her younger brother, have witnessed many cases of suicide by jumping off the bridge. Just hearing a commotion from the bridge, no matter how busy they are, the family will jump into their boat and speed out to the middle of the river hoping to save someone. In some rare cases, even after more than an hour in the river, the family has managed to snatch the life back from the jaws of death.

One example is the case of a 37-year-old man in Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh province) who, feeling abandoned by his wife, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge in 2021. "At that time, I was attending a neighborhood meeting when I received the news from the local police. I immediately called my husband and then my younger brother, asking if anyone nearby could go down to the boat to rescue them," Ms. Phuc recounted.

While having breakfast near his home, Mạnh received a call from his sister. He immediately dropped his half-eaten bowl of noodles and, along with his brother-in-law, headed out in a boat to search. After more than 30 minutes of searching the river, the two brothers finally found the man still struggling in the water, swept downstream by the current. At that moment, Toàn steered the boat, while Mạnh leaned into the river, quickly grabbed his hand, and pulled him up onto the boat by his shirt. This is just one of dozens of successful suicide rescues his family has carried out over the years.

"We didn't do any calculations, so there are no precise statistics, but I remember for sure that my family has saved more than 50 people after they jumped off the bridge to commit suicide. Sometimes, we saved more than 5 people in a single month," added Ms. Dau Thi Phuc.

The dream of having a place to live.

Nearly a month has passed since Typhoon No. 10, but Ms. Phuc's family of five is still living in their dilapidated house. A wall facing the river was torn apart by the storm, and the entire kitchen collapsed. Ms. Phuc and her husband have five children; their two older daughters are now married. Their three younger children still live with their parents in their small, corrugated iron-roofed house, about 30 square meters in size.²As for her younger brother, Dau Van Toan, he remains unmarried to this day, living separately in a small house built right next door. Ms. Phuc recounted that her husband's hometown was in Quang Binh (formerly). More than 30 years ago, Manh moved with his family to Nghe An, continuing their life on the river. They gathered in small boats, anchored in the middle of the Lam River, to make a living as fishermen. In 2000, Manh married Ms. Phuc, also a young woman from a fishing village, now Lam Thanh commune.

Born and raised on boats, toiling on the water to find food, both Ms. Phuc and Mr. Manh never received an education. As a result, they are illiterate. In 2008, in recognition of their service in saving many lives, the family was granted a strip of land on the banks of the Lam River by the government to build a house, ending their days of living on the water. Twelve years ago, after their parents passed away, Ms. Phuc brought her youngest brother, Dau Van Toan, to live with her family.

During the recent Typhoon No. 10, Ms. Phuc's family suffered heavy losses. Not only was their house destroyed, but all their livestock was swept away by the floodwaters. "Although fishing is our main occupation, fish are becoming increasingly scarce, making fishing very difficult. So, in recent years, I've also raised pigs and chickens to supplement our income. When the typhoon came, the whole family had to evacuate. When we returned the next morning, everything was gone. The storm knocked down the wall, and then the river rose, sweeping away all our belongings, including my children's books," Ms. Phuc recounted.

Life is still full of hardships, and many times saving lives has caused significant losses for the family. There were times when, just as they cast their nets into the river, they heard shouts for help, and without hesitation, they cut the nets to quickly row their boat to rescue someone. After the rescue, when they returned, the nets were all gone. But Ms. Phuc says that no matter how much loss she suffers, she's not as upset as by the way many people behave after being rescued. “Not everyone is happy to be rescued. Many people curse and blame us for not letting them die. In some cases, after we rescue someone, we take them home to care for them and wait for their family to come pick them up. When the family arrives, they only pay us 200,000 dong, without a word of thanks. Perhaps they think we rescue people for money…,” Ms. Phuc shook her head and sighed.

But there are also some people who, after being rescued, treat Ms. Phuc and her husband like family and visit them regularly. “There are some people we rescued who, because they were still upset about their families, didn’t want to go home, so we kept them at our house for many days, constantly encouraging them. Among them is a case we rescued more than 10 years ago, when they were students. Now they are teachers, and they still visit regularly,” Ms. Phuc added.

According to Mr. Mạnh, fishermen traditionally avoid rescuing people from drowning. Therefore, many people disagree with his family's actions. "Some people wouldn't even try to save someone drowning right next to their boat; they're very superstitious. But my family believes that saving lives is good and virtuous. Even if we face many misfortunes in life, we'll endure it," Mr. Mạnh said, adding that during his 20 years of making a living here, he has witnessed many tragic cases that still weigh heavily on his heart because he couldn't save them in time. Most recently, there was the case of a father jumping off a bridge with his two young daughters.

"Upon hearing the news, we immediately rowed out in our boat, but unfortunately, it was too late. After that, my family also rowed boats to help the family search for the body for several days," Mạnh added.