Finding “ultimate happiness” for unhappy families

No salary, no bonus, no title, but for the past 5 years, the members of the 116 Rescue Team (originally headquartered in Thai Binh province, now in Hung Yen province) have quietly participated in thousands of rescue missions, with only one purpose: Bringing the unfortunate victims back to their families. Behind that bravery is the story of ordinary people, but carrying within them extraordinary acts - "finding the ultimate happiness" for unfortunate families.

Rescue team 116 deploys professional measures to search for missing victims in the capsized tourist boat Blue Bay 58. (Photo: Provided by Rescue team 116)

In late July, at Dau Go Cave area (Ha Long Bay), the tourist boat Bay Xanh 58 with license plate QN-7501 carrying 49 people capsized while taking tourists to visit Ha Long Bay. The incident happened right when Quang Ninh was welcoming storm No. 3 (Wipha), causing big waves and strong winds, making rescue work difficult.

As soon as they received the information, the 116 Rescue Team - a volunteer force not from Quang Ninh - proactively contacted the Quang Ninh Tourism Association, expressing their readiness to join the search if needed by the locality. Just a few hours after receiving the instruction, the team immediately mobilized 22 of their most elite members, prepared canoes, motorboats, security cameras and specialized equipment, and set off to the scene that very night.

Rough seas, big waves, and strong winds made the search extremely dangerous. The team had to divide into 3 groups: one group to search the water surface, one group to walk along the shore to check the crevices of rocks and sandbanks, and one group to operate the bottom-view camera. At night, they divided into shifts, shining lights to check each section of the shore, not missing any suspicious locations. After 2 days of coordinated search, realizing the complicated situation, the team continued to increase their force, bringing the total number to 35 people with 15 vehicles, closely coordinating with local authorities.

“We all knew that going to sea at that time was very dangerous, but we told each other that as long as we still had hope of finding the victims, no matter how tired or how big the waves were, we had to go. During the day, we would search the water, and at night, we would shine lights along the shore. After 7 consecutive days, we finally worked together to find 4 bodies of the victims, helping the families bring their loved ones home,” said Mr. Tran Ba ​​Phuc, Deputy Captain in charge of on-site operations.

Having just finished the mission, the team continued to receive news that Mr. TDH had drowned at Hon Gai beach. Although the members were exhausted after many days of participating in rescue at sea, the team still urgently gathered, analyzed the scene, coordinated with the authorities and the victim's relatives to search. After a sleepless night of searching, at 9:23 the next day, the victim's body was found stranded on the island.

The special thing about the 116 Rescue Team is that all work is completely free. Not only searching, the members also support the victim's family in bathing, embalming the body, and taking care of funeral procedures in a voluntary spirit, without receiving any remuneration or title. After the ship capsized, a victim's family was moved to donate 50 million VND to express their gratitude, but the team firmly refused, keeping the principle of "not accepting wages from the victim's family". In particular, when they learned that the victim H also had an elderly mother and a young child with a congenital disability, in addition to searching, the team withdrew from the support fund, called on members to contribute more and encouraged benefactors to sponsor the child long-term. For them, those gestures are just the right thing to do, not anything special.

Rescue team 116 participates in the search in Ha Long Bay. (Photo: Provided by Rescue team 116)

It is known that the 116 Rescue Team was established in 2019, starting from a promise to "repay" by Mr. Nham Quang Van - the founder of the team, who was saved by people after a boat sinking. "At first, only I participated in the search for missing victims. Later, many brothers in Thai Binh , Hanoi, Hai Phong... knew about the story and volunteered to join. From the beginning, we agreed to work without salary, without bonus, without receiving wages from the victims' families - just to help them ease their pain" - Mr. Van shared.

Currently, the team has nearly 100 members from many provinces, including more than 20 female members. Anyone who wants to join must undergo at least 6 months of training, learning rescue skills, swimming, first aid for drowning, operating specialized equipment and directly participating in real-life missions. Over the past 5 years, the team has participated in thousands of rescue missions from the North to the Central region. Operating costs mainly depend on voluntary contributions from members and support from the community.

The greatest thing that the 116 Rescue Team left behind was not only the number of victims found, but also the faith, warmth and the spirit of "helping each other" spreading throughout the community - the "ultimate happiness" that they persistently searched for amidst storms and dangers.

Hoang Anh

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/di-tim-hanh-phuc-cuoi-cung-cho-nhung-gia-dinh-bat-hanh-3369612.html