Photo: TierneyMJ / Shutterstock
When Nguyen Ngoc Manh saw a child in grave danger, he acted quickly to save her life.
By Allison Mcglone — Written on Mar 29, 2021
A Vietnam delivery driver saved a life last week when he caught a toddler who had reportedly fallen over 150 feet.
Nguyen Ngoc Manh, 31, was waiting to make a delivery in downtown Hanoi on Sunday, Feb. 28th, when he heard a child crying. At first, he thought the little girl was simply having a tantrum, but then he was startled by the sound of a woman screaming for help.
Manh looked out his car window and saw a toddler crawling along the edge of a balcony – 12 stories above the street.
“I plunged out of the car immediately,” he told the Vietnam Times, still trembling from the shock of the events.
The baby had been hanging by her arm from the railing, and bystanders looked on in horror as she began to lose her grip on the metal bars.
Manh acted quickly, climbing onto a tile roof below the apartment and positioning himself to intercept the girl.
The good samaritan described the scene: “I scaled the wall and saw that she could fall onto the metallic roof of the house used to store electric generators for the complex, so I tried to climb on top of it,” he said. “I made it, but couldn’t stand firmly as the roof was crooked.”
When the child fell, Manh stumbled, but flung himself forward with all his strength and managed to break her fall.
“I hurriedly embraced her then saw blood leaking from her mouth,” the driver recalled. “I was very frightened.”
As a father of two himself, Manh was shaken to his core.
“She looked so much like my child at home,” he told reporters. “I was so confused, only able to tell her ‘please, please, I'm here now.’”
Less than two minutes had passed since Manh first noticed the danger.
He picked up the stunned child and carried her to safety. Luckily, she had sustained no serious injuries, and her rescuer had only minor sprains to his arms.
After Manh passed the baby on to a security guard so she could be brought to a hospital, he left the scene without leaving any contact information. However, the girl’s family found a way to get in touch with Manh and update him on her injuries.
The lucky toddler was taken to the nearby National Children’s hospital, where she is apparently receiving treatment for a dislocated hip.
“I didn’t think about it much back then,” Manh said, “but now I'm happy for doing something meaningful.”
The incident was captured on video by spectators and quickly went viral. Social media users around the world have called Manh a hero and congratulated him on the remarkable rescue.
However, the driver maintains that he was simply doing the right thing.
“I don’t see myself as a hero. I just want to do good,” Manh remarked.
He is staying humble and feels somewhat overwhelmed by the public attention.
“My life has turned upside down,” Manh said. “Normally my Facebook posts draw only a few dozen responses, now I get tens of thousands.”
He has also received many phone calls filled with praise and has refused gifts from people who were impressed by his actions. Some have sent him money, which Manh said makes him uncomfortable.
“I don’t want to receive any money I haven't earned by myself,” he explained.
The savior simply wants to return to a normal life, but he plans to visit the girl he rescued following her stay at the hospital. He loves kids and even said he would be willing to adopt the girl if her current home was deemed unsafe.
“I want to have as many children as possible,” Manh said.
Allie McGlone is a writer who covers a variety of topics for YourTango, including pop culture and entertainment.