Nearly 100 times "rob the river god of rice"
Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hoan is 32 years old this year. He has 13 years of experience working at the Fire Fighting and Rescue Team of Region 1, Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department (PCCC&CNCH) of Thanh Hoa Provincial Police.
He said that the daily work of firefighters like him is not only to rush into "firestorms" to save people and property, but also to search for bodies and rescue victims who have drowned or gone missing in rivers and seas...
With 13 years of experience, Mr. Hoan has been involved in the job of recovering bodies from the riverbed for nearly 10 years. Recalling his first day in the profession, Mr. Hoan said that he was a skilled diver. In 2017, a couple jumped off Ham Rong Bridge (Thanh Hoa City) to commit suicide. Upon receiving the order, he was assigned to join the unit's working group to search for the two unfortunate victims.
“Although I can’t swim, I have good diving skills, so my teammates often call me “frogman” or “otter”. Even so, the first time I participated in searching for drowning victims, looking at the turbulent and fast-flowing Ma River, I was a bit apprehensive. But because of work and the task assigned by my superiors, at that time I only thought that I had to find the victim by any means”, said Mr. Hoan.
After his first “fate” with the profession, thanks to the guidance of his colleagues and seniors, Mr. Hoan learned the job very quickly. Even in difficult cases, the victim’s body had been missing for many days, but when he “took action”, he was sure to find it.
Up to now, although he does not remember exactly how many searches he has participated in, he estimates that he and his teammates have recovered nearly 100 bodies.
According to Mr. Hoan, during the 7 years of recovering bodies, each case left him with its own emotions and pain. In addition to cases of couples jumping off bridges, boat capsizing accidents, and slipping and falling into rivers, he has also witnessed many victims drowning at a very young age.
Although he is a brave man with nerves of steel and is used to dealing with dead bodies, he still feels a chill every time he mentions the incident that happened in 2022. That was the search for 5 female students who drowned in the Mau Khe River (Thieu Hoa district).
“Five female students invited each other to the riverbank to take photos, unfortunately they slipped and fell, leading to drowning. When I arrived at the scene, I was extremely heartbroken to see relatives and villagers gathered at the riverbank waiting for news. When I found the victims, I could not hold back my emotions, they were so young, just a little carelessness had left serious consequences for themselves and their relatives,” Senior Lieutenant Hoan recalled.
That is just one of hundreds of cases that Mr. Hoan has experienced. Mr. Hoan said that there are cases where the victim has been missing for a long time, the body is no longer intact, and smells bad. If you meet a "weak-minded" person, you will be haunted, and even unable to eat after work.
I wish I was unemployed every day.
Lieutenant Hoan said that in addition to having a “fate” for the job, recovering a body also requires a solid grasp of the profession, experience, and a bit of luck. Normally, when receiving a case, he often observes the scene very carefully to make a judgment, determine the correct location, and narrow down the search area for the victim.
“If the water flow is strong, within 2 hours of the accident, the victim will no longer be at the location where the incident occurred, but will drift to another location. At that time, it is necessary to determine the direction of the flow to deploy a suitable search plan,” said Mr. Hoan.
According to Lieutenant Hoan, the job of retrieving bodies is extremely difficult and dangerous. While working at the bottom of the river, divers like him often have to face rocks, obstacles and strong currents. Therefore, he is always careful not to make mistakes when performing his duties.
Mr. Hoan remembers that one time while searching for a victim, the rope of his diving suit got tangled in a bush. In a life-or-death situation, he had to cut the rope to escape. “Working underwater is different from working on land. If we are not careful and do not anticipate the situation, an accident is very likely to happen. Therefore, on days when there are no incidents, we have to actively practice and improve our physical strength to gain experience while performing our duties,” Mr. Hoan shared.
In addition to the lurking dangers, rescuers like Mr. Hoan are not fixed in terms of time. Regardless of sun or rain, early or late, even on the 30th of Tet, when an incident occurs, they still have to go on duty.
Mr. Hoan said that because of the nature of his job, he often had to deal with corpses, and he often encountered awkward situations. He remembered the first days of recovering corpses the most. At that time, he was 27 years old and had a girlfriend, but he never dared to confide in his daily work. It was only when they got married that he dared to speak up.
“When we first got married, when I told my wife that I was going to retrieve bodies at night, she was startled and didn’t dare sleep because she was scared. There were even days when she came home and felt sorry for me but didn’t dare hold my hand. It took a long time for my wife to get used to working at night and coming back at night and to understand her husband’s work,” Senior Lieutenant Hoan confided.
During many years in the profession, Mr. Hoan witnessed many scenes of sadness and separation.
“Every time I see the victims’ relatives suffering, anxiously waiting for news about the victims, I have to try harder to quickly find the bodies to help them ease their pain, and fulfill my last wish for the deceased. My colleagues and I often joke that one day we will be “unemployed”, only then will there be no more pain and loss,” Hoan shared.
Dantri.com.vn
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/nguoi-nhai-gan-100-lan-cuop-com-ha-ba-giau-nghe-voi-nguoi-yeu-20241004094505486.htm
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