On the afternoon of November 17, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phap - Chairman of the People's Committee of Krong Bong commune (Dak Lak) and functional forces visited villages 28, 29 and 30 to survey the flooding situation.
These are areas that are isolated due to routes submerged in water, completely cut off traffic.
In the evening, he returned by motorboat. When the boat was halfway there, it suddenly collided with a strange object, damaging the duck feet in the middle of the river, about 600m from shore.
At that time, the commune canoe was responding to a case of high fever and could not return to support. Faced with the urgent situation, Mr. Phap decided to hold the rowing roof and row the boat owner himself in the floodwaters.
Mr. Phap said that it was dark at this time and the water was flowing strongly, so they had to be handled quickly. "I immediately contacted the forces on the shore to turn on the lights to determine the direction, then put all my effort into rowing to shore" - Mr. Phap said.
There were six people on the boat at the time, including Ms. Vu Nam Trang. She recalled the moment the boat stalled, the four sides were covered with water and darkness, making everyone scared because they could not row.
Then, when he heard that the canoe was rescuing a sick person and had not yet returned to rescue him, Mr. Phap immediately reassured everyone and immediately held the roof of the boat.
"I didn't expect the Commune Chairman to roam a boat so well," Ms. Trang said about the moment the boat stalled and sank in the floodwaters.
Regarding the storm situation in the locality, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phap said that heavy rain for many days has caused many roads in Krong Bong commune to be cut off, more than 500 people in four villages are isolated.
Local authorities have evacuated more than 50 households and established many duty groups at vulnerable locations to support people overnight.
