The dream of returning to the podium of two teachers in the mini apartment fire

(Dan Tri) - Two female teachers who escaped the fire in a mini apartment building in Hanoi hope to return to the podium to heal, stabilize their lives soon, and forget the biggest incident in their lives.

After 14 years of working, this is the first year that teacher Tran Thi Thanh Huong (36 years old, Thanh Xuan District Continuing Education Center, Hanoi) did not go to school on Vietnamese Teachers' Day. A different gratitude day on November 20 for her, not participating in exciting activities at school like every year, receiving flowers and wishes over the phone. Sitting in her rented house on Bui Xuong Trach Street (Thanh Xuan District), the female teacher burst into tears when reading the text messages from parents and students, after the biggest event in her life: "I believe my teacher will have enough strength to overcome everything", "Teacher, when will you return to the school to be our homeroom teacher?". "Many times I dream of returning to the podium to meet students and colleagues. In December, if my health allows, I will go to work", said Ms. Huong.

Teacher Tran Thi Thanh Huong burst into tears remembering the time of the fire (Photo: Minh Nhan).

"I hope this is all just a dream and I wake up soon"

The fire in mid-September at the mini apartment building in lane 29/70 Khuong Ha (Khuong Dinh ward, Thanh Xuan district), where Ms. Huong's family has lived for more than 7 years, has become a terrible obsession for the female teacher. She cannot forget the strong smell of the fire, and has since been sensitive and uncomfortable with smoke and fire. Ms. Huong and her husband, Mr. Duong Quyet Thang (41 years old), were the first to buy a house here after giving birth to their second child. The 52m2 apartment, priced at 900 million VND, is a place for the young family to settle down after many years of renting in Hanoi. With limited economic conditions, the couple borrowed money from relatives and friends. In the process of finding a house to buy, the couple prioritized the central district, near Ms. Huong's school to conveniently take care of their children and work, while Mr. Thang works as a tourist driver and often travels far. Recalling the fateful night of September 12, the female teacher was preparing a lesson plan when she heard shouts of "fire, fire". She turned off the computer, opened the door, saw smoke and fire billowing, and ran in to call her husband in panic. Mr. Thang decided to let his daughter Duong Thuy Linh (9 years old) lead her younger brother Duong Khanh Thien (8 years old) to the top floor in the hope that the two children could run up high, avoid smoke inhalation, and wait for the police to come to rescue them. He and his wife, along with their youngest child, 2 years old, stayed behind to find soft blankets and wet clothes to cover the gaps, preventing smoke from entering the apartment. A moment later, the smoke continued to "occupy" the entire space, and the three family members ran to the balcony to find a way out from the tiger cage. From the emergency exit on the 3rd floor, Mr. Thang threw the wet blanket onto the corrugated iron roof of the house next door, hugged his daughter tightly and jumped down first. The strong impact made him dizzy, and when he leaned on his left arm, he felt a sharp pain and realized it was broken. Trying to endure the pain, he calmly shouted to his wife: "Just jump down, I'll wait down here." The distance between the two houses was about 2.5m, standing before the moment of life and death, Ms. Huong thought "if I don't jump, I will die". Her eyes opened wide looking up at the black sky, below was a column of black smoke rolling, the woman felt the street lights shining from afar like a ray of hope. "I have always been optimistic and positive like that", she told herself, shouted 3 times: "Thank you life", then jumped decisively.

After more than 2 months, Ms. Huong still cannot overcome the pain of losing her eldest daughter (Photo: Minh Nhan).

The jump of Mr. Thang and his wife caused the neighbor's roof, which was already sagging, to puncture under the heavy load. Ms. Huong was lucky to fall into the raw material storage area of ​​the tenant who made copper wire. When she opened her eyes, she didn't know where she was, didn't think she was still alive, and felt pain from her spine down to her thighs. Mr. Thang put his daughter aside and pulled his wife from the pile of raw materials to the ground. She lowered her head, dragged herself with her shoulders, pushed her legs, and arched her body to move backwards. Each time she dragged herself, she was in pain - a pain that could not be described in any words. Down on the first floor of the house, the couple heard screams, the sound of people running, and the sound of a fire siren. Mr. Thang called for help help helplessly, then went to find a hammer, broke the door and rushed out. "I told the two of you to go first, and I stayed behind to wait for rescue," said the female teacher, who later heard the story of her husband trying to run to the entrance of alley 29 Khuong Ha, one arm holding the child, the other arm dangling. The father and son were then transferred to Bach Mai Hospital for emergency treatment. When the rescue team arrived at the scene, Ms. Huong was still conscious and in good condition, and was transferred to Dong Da Hospital. The X-ray and ultrasound results showed a poor prognosis, and the patient was transferred to the upper level, Xanh Pon Hospital, at night. Upon receiving the fire report, relatives of Mr. Thang and Ms. Huong split up to search for the two children Thuy Linh and Khanh Thien in the apartment building and hospitals. The boy ran to the 6th floor, was pulled into a room by a resident to avoid the toxic smoke, waited for the rescue team to arrive, and was successfully rescued at 2:00 a.m. The child was transferred to Bach Mai Hospital to reunite with his father and younger sister - where his grandparents were waiting at 3:30 a.m. The older daughter was not so lucky, she got lost and died, her body was found around 4:30 p.m. on September 13 at Hospital 103. The family agreed to hide the news from Ms. Huong, even though she felt "her child was gone", but chose to believe everyone, hoping that what she felt was not true. Before the day of discharge, she insisted on calling her husband: "When the doctor lets me go home, the first thing I will do is go to Bach Mai Hospital to visit my child." "No, I don't have to go. My child died that day," Thang's answer made his wife cry a lot, her heart beat fast, and she had difficulty breathing. Since that day, she cried silently every day, thinking about her child, unable to overcome the loss. Many times when she passed the school, she did not dare to look inside. Every time she walked to the intersection, seeing the children in the neighborhood, her tears fell. She remembered the days before, every time she finished school early, her two older children walked to the school where their mother worked, waiting to go home together. That school, where a 9-year-old child ran around the campus, sat watching TV with the security guard, is now only a thing of the past. "I hope it's all just a dream and I wake up soon," the woman said.

The last photo of all 5 members of Ms. Huong's family (Photo: Minh Nhan).

Dream of returning to the podium

Upon hearing the news that Ms. Huong was discharged from the hospital, relatives and friends rushed to find a place to rent and clean the house, paint all the walls with bright colors, install new electrical and water lines, etc. After 12 days of spinal injury treatment at Xanh Pon Hospital, the female teacher was the first member to return to her new home. In the following days, her husband and two children were discharged from the hospital one after another, the whole family reunited in many hardships, but it would be a new beginning after the incident. To catch up with life, she practiced rehabilitation: walking, standing, sitting... like a child, following nutritional regimens to increase her ability to fight diseases. She did everything with the determination to return to school in December. "From the concern of everyone, both familiar and unfamiliar, I knew that I had to try for them. The second motivation was for my children. I didn't want to be a burden to my husband and children, didn't want to spend old age and the following years lying in a hospital bed," she said. Teacher Huong remembers that on October 20, she only dared to send greeting cards to the class group, then locked the comment function. She was afraid that her students would be worried and look forward to the day she returned. During the days she was in the hospital, generations of colleagues, students and parents came to visit her. Some tried to hold back their tears, not daring to sit in the hospital room but running out into the hallway because "they couldn't bear the pain". Some came to visit two or three times, bringing their children with them. Some called and cried, and when they reached the hospital room door, they cried loudly out of sympathy.

Messages of inquiry and encouragement from students and parents (Photo: Minh Nhan).

She remembers most the words of a student who was reserved and limited in communication. When he came to the hospital, he shared with her: "Please take care of your health and come back to teach us soon." "That was the longest sentence she had ever said," the female teacher was moved, saying that at the general education school, students come from different backgrounds and lives, so the way they express their feelings is also different. "Students come from families with material and spiritual difficulties, rarely saying words of love. Just a nod and a look of sympathy from them made me happy. When I was in trouble, parents and students were all concerned, it was a precious feeling," Ms. Huong confided. After the incident, she appreciated and thanked life even more for giving her another chance to see the sunlight. Even when she was still lying on the hospital bed, she always tried to recover, praying: "If I am still alive and healthy again, I will do charity work, repay life." Looking at the family photo from Tet 2023, which the members initially planned not to take. Luckily, that was the last moment of the family of 5 members. The photo has therefore become a priceless asset to them!

"We are very happy to welcome you back to school."

In the mini apartment fire that killed 56 people, teacher Dang Thi Hai Yen (FPT High School) and Mr. Ha Trung Duc, both 31 years old, and their son Ha Minh Hoang (3 years old) were lucky to escape. More than a year ago, the couple looked to buy a house near schools and hospitals, convenient for commuting between the two agencies. At that time, the mini apartment in lane 29 Khuong Ha was a perfect choice for them, affordable, fulfilling their dream of "having a house in Hanoi". During his sleep on the night of September 12 in his 8th floor apartment, Mr. Duc was awakened by the sound of a fire alarm. He went downstairs to check, still not thinking that the apartment where he lived was on fire. When he got to the 6th floor, he heard people saying there was a big fire on the first floor, so he rushed up to wake his wife and children. The whole family followed the neighbors down to the first floor and then up to the roof. However, the smoke and fire became thicker and thicker, the elevator stopped working, the stairs could not be approached, all exits were blocked by the "fire god". They decided to return to the shelter, closed the door, and pulled it out to the balcony to wait for rescue. Using the knowledge and fire prevention skills trained at the agency a week before, Mr. Duc used a blanket draped over a clothesline to make a temporary shelter. The whole family crawled inside, continuously spraying water to limit the amount of smoke inhaled.

Teacher Dang Thi Hai Yen, her husband and son were lucky to escape the fire (Photo: Minh Nhan).

With 10% battery left, he called for help, asked a friend to inform the rescue team on the 8th floor that there was someone, and asked them to spray water on them. Meanwhile, Ms. Yen continuously turned on the water hose outside the balcony. When the fire brigade pumped water from the pond near the apartment building to spray the hose to the upper floors, Mr. Duc and Ms. Yen accepted to drink the pond water, encouraging their son "to drink water so that the firefighters can come and save him". "There was no other choice, it was better to drink dirty water than to suffocate", she said. They held out until 3:30-4:00, the fire was put out, the smoke gradually cleared, and it started to rain. Mr. Duc took a bucket to collect rainwater for his wife and children to continue drinking - "one of the self-rescue measures to avoid respiratory burns and lung damage". The family held out outside the balcony for 6 hours, until the authorities reached the 8th floor. This is the area where many victims died, the firefighters did not think there were any survivors. They shined lights, searching for the bodies, and suddenly heard Duc's cry for help. "When we saw the firefighters, we were overwhelmed with happiness. Before that, I was very scared, the whole family hugged each other and cried, thinking that we would die here," the female teacher said, recalling the scene where Minh Hoang's son, who was afraid of strangers, was ready to jump into the arms of the firefighters in that situation. When the rescue team brought him out, Ms. Yen saw dead bodies everywhere. The room opposite had 20 phones on the table that had been ringing continuously, but there was no response, they gradually turned off, and then there was mournful silence.

At the end of September, Ms. Yen returned to school, hoping to "heal" from her pain (Photo: Minh Nhan).

Ms. Yen's family were the last survivors from the "death" apartment building and were transferred to Xanh Pon Hospital for treatment of respiratory burns. As she was 3 months pregnant, tests and medications were limited, and she was only given IV fluids to filter CO2 from her body. During her days in the hospital, the wife cried a lot, thinking that the young couple had saved money, borrowed money from relatives and friends, and bought a house in Hanoi, but lost everything overnight. She worried about what would happen to her parents if she died, and silently thanked them, "being alive now is a blessing." During this time, many colleagues, students, and parents organized visits and texted to encourage the female teacher. Ms. Yen always remembers a parent living in Ha Tinh who traveled more than 400km to Hanoi and went directly to the hospital to ask about her family's situation. "I didn't expect to receive so much love," she confided.

After 10 days of treatment, teacher Yen was discharged from the hospital and moved to a rented apartment on Mau Luong Street (Kien Hung Ward, Ha Dong District). She became sensitive to the dark, had restless sleep, and was afraid of exposure to smoke and fire. At the end of September, the woman decided to go back to work, even though her body was still tired, had difficulty climbing stairs, and was out of breath. She chose to go to work to heal and forget the horrifying memories. Every day, she left home at 6am and returned at 6:30pm, traveling a long distance, about 2 hours for 80km/day. On the days when she and her husband could not pick up their children, the grandmother would help. On her first day in class, the students organized a welcoming ceremony with the words: "We are very happy to welcome you back to school, teacher." Colleagues asked about her, helping her "get caught up" in work and stop thinking about what had happened. Students and parents of all classes continuously texted and motivated her to build a new life. From the support money allocated by the Thanh Xuan District Fatherland Front in early November, Duc and Yen decided to spend the money on long-term medical treatment, and the rest to find a new house that would be convenient for both of their jobs.

Little Minh Hoang dreams of becoming a firefighter to save people (Photo: Minh Nhan).

Hugging his mother and asking to draw a picture of a fire truck, Minh Hoang said his dream was to become a firefighter to save people. Yen remembers the day the whole family went to the headquarters of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Team of Thanh Xuan District Police to say thank you. The soldiers revealed that when they transferred Minh Hoang to the doctor to take him to the emergency room, he smiled and said: "Thank you, uncle". "My husband and I also confided to each other: Let's try hard now, everyone has helped us, so if we can help anyone in the future, we are always ready to repay life," the female teacher said.

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