Heroes under Ben Thuy bridge

Snatching life from the "river god's mouth"

On the morning of mid-March, Ms. Dau Thi Phuc (39 years old, block 15, Ben Thuy ward), was attending a block meeting when she received a phone call from the local police informing her that a person had just jumped off Ben Thuy 1 bridge to commit suicide and needed help from her family. Ms. Phuc immediately called her husband Hoang Van Manh (41 years old) and her younger brother Dau Van Toan (31 years old), to see who was closest to home and quickly run to Lam river to save the person.

“I was having breakfast at that time. When I heard Ms. Phuc’s call, I threw away my half-eaten bowl of noodles and ran home to take a boat to the Lam River to save people,” said Mr. Toan. That day, a 37-year-old man from Nghi Xuan District (Ha Tinh) was abandoned by his wife and decided to go to Ben Thuy 1 Bridge to commit suicide. Upon receiving a report from the public, Ben Thuy Ward Police immediately called Ms. Phuc’s family in the hope of saving this person in time.

The house of Mr. Manh and his wife is located along the Lam River. Photo: Tien Hung

After about 30 minutes of struggling, Toan and Manh saw a man struggling in the water, about 500m downstream from Ben Thuy bridge. When they arrived, the man was exhausted, his entire body had sunk, only one hand was still weakly struggling on the water surface. At this time, Toan was steering the boat, while Manh leaned down into the river, quickly grabbed the hand, then pulled his shirt, and fought to save the life of this unknown man from the river god's mouth.

Working at the foot of Ben Thuy Bridge, Mr. Manh has witnessed people jumping off the bridge to commit suicide many times. Photo: Tien Hung

The victim was then taken to Mr. Manh's house, where they burned firewood to warm him up and revive him. A while later, his family came to pick him up. Although he was saved by the Manh brothers, to this day, Mr. Manh said that he still doesn't even know the man's name! However, that doesn't bother him at all. Because this is just one of dozens of successful suicide rescues by his family over the years.

More than 2 weeks earlier, a 34-year-old woman, under pressure from her family to get married, also decided to go to Ben Thuy 1 bridge to commit suicide. “At that time, around 9pm, our whole family was having dinner when we heard a cry for help coming from Ben Thuy bridge. Knowing for sure that there was another jump from the bridge, everyone in the family left their food, ran to the riverbank, got on a boat to search for her,” said Ms. Dau Thi Phuc.

Because it was dark, the search was quite difficult. The two motorboats of Mr. Manh's family took turns running along the riverbed downstream of the bridge. About half an hour later, they heard the girl's cry for help as she was about to drown. After being rescued, the girl refused to go home and decided to stay at Mr. Manh's house for the night... "It was so lucky. The river god must have fallen asleep that day, because she didn't know how to swim. I don't know how she jumped into the river for half an hour before we picked her up and she survived," Mr. Toan recalled.

Mr. Manh and his wife cannot remember exactly how many people they saved from jumping off the bridge, but they estimate it to be between 20 and 30 people. Photo: Tien Hung

Joy from saving people

Mr. Manh is originally from Con Se - a strip of land in the middle of Gianh River (in Quang Loc Commune, Quang Trach, Quang Binh). His family has been fishermen for generations. More than 30 years ago, Manh followed his family to Nghe An, continuing to live a life on the river. They gathered in small boats, anchored in the middle of Lam River to fish.

In 2000, Manh married Phuc, also a young woman from a fishing village. Phuc was originally from Hung Chau (Hung Nguyen), but had moved to a boat many generations ago. Born on a boat and drifting along the water to find food, neither Phuc nor Manh had the chance to go to school. As a result, both were illiterate. After their parents died, Phuc brought her youngest brother, Dau Van Toan, to live with her family.

Mr. Toan drives a boat to bring a person who jumped off the bridge he saved to shore. Photo: TH

In 2008, Ben Thuy ward lent this family a piece of land on the bank of Lam River, about 200m downstream from Ben Thuy Bridge, to build a house, ending their days of drifting on the river. In the 20 years that the couple has lived together at the foot of Ben Thuy Bridge, Manh and Phuc cannot remember how many people they have saved from suicide. “We participated in many rescues, almost every month. But not everyone survived. We considered it normal so we didn’t pay much attention. I only remember that my family saved about 20 to 30 people. Every year we saved at least 1 person, some years we saved up to 5 people,” said Dau Thi Phuc.

There was a time when they were fishing in the river and saw someone jumping off the bridge and they immediately saved them. There was a time when they were at home and heard someone screaming for help so they jumped into the river to save them. But there were also many times when they were busy outside, but as soon as they received news that someone had jumped off the bridge, Manh and Phuc's family rushed back, hoping to save the person.

A bridge jumper was rescued and brought to Mr. Manh's house to warm up before his family came to pick him up. Photo: TH

Despite doing good deeds, the couple often felt sad because of the behavior of the rescued people. “Not everyone is happy when they are rescued. Many people even curse and blame us for not letting them die. In some cases, after we save them, we take them home to take care of them and wait for their families to come and pick them up. When the families come, they pay us 200,000 VND, without a word of thanks. We don’t save people for money…”, Ms. Phuc shook her head and sighed.

The rescue of Mr. Manh and his wife is completely selfless, but to save a life, his family has suffered many great losses. “Sometimes, while casting the net, they see someone jumping off the bridge. At that time, they have to cut the net to go to the rescue. Later, the net is gone. There was a time when they lost tens of millions of dong worth of nets. But saving one person is always a joy,” Mr. Manh said with a smile, adding that fishermen often have the concept of “a life for a life”. If you save someone, you will have to pay with your life to the river god, so when they see someone drowning, they will not save them. Mr. Manh and his wife are a rare case that has overcome this concept.

“Some people call us heroes because we save so many people, but many people also call us crazy. We consider those things normal, following human instinct, seeing people dying, we save them. We don’t think about anything else,” said fisherman Hoang Van Manh.

“The volunteering of Mr. Manh and Mr. Toan to save the person who jumped off the bridge is very valuable. Because they live near the bridge, they responded faster and more promptly than the rescue team. The ward police have reported this many times, we welcome and appreciate this action. This family does not have a registered residence in the ward, they are only temporarily residing, we are looking for ways to support them to stabilize their lives,” said Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huan - Chairman of Ben Thuy Ward People's Committee.