Many days after the storm subsided, Ms. Tran Thi Huan (65 years old, residing in Ha Lam ward, Ha Long city) still feels guilty because she cannot contact the police officer - who saved her during the fierce storm Yagi - to say thank you.
She kept asking people around her if there was any way, because her phone had been almost unreachable for the past few days.
Someone urged her to call back, because the phone signal was bad, but if she kept calling, she might get through. And then her benefactor picked up.
As soon as she introduced herself, the other side recognized her and asked: "How are you? Have you taken out your motorbike yet?"
Ms. Huan said that at around 3 p.m. on September 7, when she saw the wind had temporarily stopped, she quickly rode her motorbike home because she was not sure about her house, even though the hotel owner - where she worked as a chef - asked all employees to stay, and had arranged meals and lodging because the storm was approaching, which was very dangerous.
However, when she reached the end of Tran Hung Dao Street, the storm returned. Her bike wobbled and could not move. She struggled to hold on and stagger as she pushed the bike forward.
Above, sheets of metal and glass were flying and falling haphazardly onto the road. She pushed her bike while trying to avoid the sheets of metal and glass that were being whirled around in the air by the storm. She could hear the sound of glass exploding on the nearby high-rise buildings. The median strip of Tran Hung Dao Street was torn apart by the storm, and at times it shot like an arrow across the road.
After pushing it a little further, she could no longer go on and was forced to stop, holding onto the motorbike. At that time, there was only her and another man on the road, who was also lying flat on his back with the motorbike.
Just then, a car drove up. Opening the car door, the young man told her to hold on to the car mirror so the wind wouldn’t blow it away, while he quickly took her car to a bank to deposit it. Very quickly, the young man returned and helped her into the car.
He told her to write down his phone number so that when she went to get her motorbike back, if she had any problems, she could call him back.
On the way back, he introduced himself as a police officer. His house was in a high-rise apartment building, and his family had just reported that the glass door had been broken by the storm, but he couldn't return home because he was on duty.
Her house is in Ha Lam, it would have taken only 10 minutes to drive straight, but fallen trees blocked the way, so the police had to turn around and find another way. There were fallen trees on every road, so they had to avoid them or take another route. It took more than an hour for the police to take her home.
Two days later, she returned to the bank to get the car. She declared her name and told the condition of the car when it was brought there, and the bank security guard handed the car over to her.
Her voice was trembling and emotional on the phone when talking to the police officer who helped her: “Thank you, if it weren’t for you, I don’t know if I would still be sitting here. In such a dangerous moment, you got out of the car to save me and take me home. May I ask, what is your name and what unit do you work for?”
The people sitting next to her heard the police officer say: “It’s okay, ma’am. In your situation, I think everyone would do the same as me. My name is Nguyen Dong Anh, currently working at the Ha Long City Police Department.”
