Brave young buffalo herder saves two drowning students

(Baonghean.vn)- While herding buffalo,Trinh Van Hieu (20 years old) in block 15, Dung town (Thanh Chuong, Nghe An)discovered someone was drowning. Without thinking much, Hieu jumped into the river and saved 2 students to shore.

» While herding buffalo, a student drowned

At around 10:00 a.m. on June 15, in Ngoc Thuong hamlet, Thanh Ngoc commune (Thanh Chuong, Nghe An), three students Nguyen Trong Hau (15 years old), Le Huu Hieu (14 years old) and Le Ngoc Giap (13 years old) residing in Ngoc Thuong hamlet, while herding buffaloes across the Gang river to go home, they encountered a deep creek and drowned.

At that time, Trinh Van Hieu was herding buffalo and Mr. Nguyen Ba Ngu (68 years old) in block 7, Dung town was fishing nearby. Seeing the incident, he jumped into the river to save the children. 2 out of 3 children in the accident were saved.

Hieu recounts the story of rescuing people at the scene. Photo: Huy Thu.

Trinh Van Hieu recounted: on the morning of June 15, Hieu went to herd buffaloes along the Gang River. While he was letting the buffaloes wallow and sitting at the foot of Yen Thuong Bridge, he heard a fisherman say loudly, "Let them go and swim in," then heard a very urgent cry for help from the river more than 100 meters away. Hieu immediately ran to see a child "stabbing a bear" in the middle of the river, sometimes coming up, sometimes going down. Knowing that the children were drowning, Hieu quickly swam out and pulled one of the children to shallow water, that was Nguyen Trong Hau.

Trinh Van Hieu visits and encourages Nguyen Trong Hau at home. Photo: Huy Thu.

At the same time, Mr. Nguyen Ba Ngu, who was fishing 30 meters away, also jumped into the river to rescue Hau and brought her to shore. Hieu continued swimming to the middle of the river and luckily found the spot where Le Ngoc Giap had drowned and brought Giap to shore. At that time, Giap was so weak that he could no longer hold on. Hearing Mr. Ngu say "there is another one", Hieu took off his white shirt and continued swimming to the middle of the river but could not find Le Huu Hieu. At that time, many people in Ngoc Thuong hamlet who were having a hamlet meeting heard the news and ran out to search for the victim. Nearly 10 minutes later, Le Huu Hieu was picked up by the people but he had drowned.

Hieu said, “It would have been better if I had come a little earlier, because at first I thought the children would go home by raft across the temporary bridge, not wade across the river. Only when I heard clear cries for help from the river did I run over, but it was too late. Luckily, I was able to save the two children.”

On the morning of June 16, Giap ate and went out as usual. Giap innocently recounted yesterday's story: "The brothers said to wade through the fence to go faster, then herd the buffaloes and cows first, then wade across. When we reached the middle of the river, we knew it was too deep but we couldn't turn back anymore." Hau, on the other hand, had not yet recovered, his face was pale, his health was weak, and he was especially confused. According to Hau, at first, Giap was not allowed to go with him, but because Giap asked to go, they let him cross the river. When the water was flooded, Giap climbed onto Hau's neck and hugged her tightly, making it very difficult for Hau to come up to the surface to call for help. Hau recalled, "I only remember two people in the river who saved us."

Mr. Nguyen Ba Ngu said: “When we saw the herd of buffalo crossing the river, we told the children, “That place is deep, don’t wade in,” but they still waded in. When I saw the child in the lead sinking into the river and unable to float, I thought he was drowning, so I jumped into the river and swam back to the children. I swam to help Hau to shore. The young buffalo herder in white continued to search for the remaining children.”

Le Ngoc Giap and his savior. Photo: Huy Thu.

Talking about saving the children, Trinh Van Hieu said: "I know how to swim, so when I heard the cry for help in the river, I just ran quickly to save them, but at that time I was so panicked."

Mr. Le Ngoc Thang - Giap's father shared: "Thanks to Hieu, Mr. Ngu and the villagers, otherwise the drowning incident at Rao Gang would have been even more heartbreaking, perhaps no one would have survived. On behalf of the family, I would like to sincerely thank Hieu and everyone."

It is known that Trinh Van Hieu is currently in his final year, class K25 of the Technical Vocational School No. 4, and is on an internship, but the construction site is temporarily closed so he has to return home. Hieu's brave act of saving people is being respected and admired by local people.

Huy Thu