Man uses drone to rescue children trapped in river in Vietnam

Pham Van Duc, chairman of the People’s Committee of Ia Tul Commune in Gia Lai Province, confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday that a local resident had used an agricultural drone to rescue two children stranded in a river.

The current Gia Lai Province is formed by merging the former Gia Lai and Binh Dinh Provinces, effective from July 1.

Earlier, the video circulated widely on social media, capturing the rescue that occurred at noon on Thursday near the Ben Mong Bridge in Ia Tul Commune.

According to reports, three children were herding cattle when they attempted to cross the river. 

Suddenly, strong upstream currents surged in, trapping them on a small patch of land in the middle of the river.

Hearing cries for help, a man named Tran Van Nghia quickly responded by using his pesticide-spraying drone. 

He tied a rope to the drone and flew it out over the river to initiate the rescue.

The video shows the drone carrying the rope to the stranded children. One by one, two of them held onto the rope and were safely pulled to shore.

The third child was later rescued by local residents who paddled a boat out to bring them back.

Ia Tul Commune chairman Duc stated that after learning about the incident on social media, local authorities verified that the children in the video are indeed residents of the commune.

Nghia, who leases nearby land to grow sweet potatoes, acted quickly when he saw the emergency, using his agricultural drone to assist in the rescue.