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Helicopter delivers relief aid to local residents. Photo QDND
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In Da Nang, on November 24 at 7 am, Colonel Nguyen Van Tho urgently assigned the aircrew the task of bring relief aid to flood victims in Canh Lien commune.
Colonel, political commissar Bui Hong Quan and Colonel Nguyen Van Cam were very worried when looking at the leaden sky. Their emergency task was to use helicopters to provide relief aid for thousands of people in Canh Lien commune, which is still isolated by the flood.
Officials from Phu Cat airport said the nui Ong area, the venue for the helicopter landing, was still covered by dark clouds, preventing helicopter from landing. At 7.20, the aircrew was informed helicopters were able to land.
All preparations were ready and one helicopter, numbered 7831 and took off at 8.02. The second, numbered 92102, also left the airport 10 minutes later.
The sky was still full of dark clouds and strong winds were fiercely blowing. Captain Nguyen Thang Long calmly commanded the aircrew to fly to the central province of Binh Dinh.
“Travelling by plane is very dangerous at this time because the weather is changeable, but the local residents are waiting for us,” said Political commissar Quan. “We’ll try our best,” Long replied.
After one hour, the helicopters arrived at Phu Cat airport at 9.30. Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Minh, chief of Binh Dinh Military Headquarters, and Le Huu Loc, Vice Chairman of Binh Dinh People’s Committee, were waiting for them there.
Colonel Quan decided to mobilize 50 soldiers from C40 Unit to urgently move the relief aid to the helicopters. 15 minutes later the first one took off and the second followed 30 minutes later.
Looking out of the windows of the helicopter, Canh Lien looked like a battlefield. Many people were standing on their roofs and waving their hands.
The wind was strong blowing and the dark clouds still covered the nui Ong area. Long commanded the aircrew to land two helicopters. Thousands of people gathered there immediately.
Bags of rice, packages of noodle, books, and other necessities were delivered to each person at once. All of them were very happy when receiving the relief aid.
“The flood collapsed my house and swept away all properties,” said Dinh Van Tri, one of local residents. “I had to eat cassava mixed with wild vegetable for several days.”
“The eleventh storm caused considerable consternation among those who live here,” said Minh Thanh Thao, a teacher of Canh Lien primary school. “The flood swept away all fields of rice and all of us were isolated for more than 20 days. Many soldiers brought us 3 tonnes of rice two weeks ago, but the amount was not enough.”
Fortunately, soldiers promptly provided the relief aid for us; if not, we were able to become the hungry, he added.
Chairma of Canh Lien commune People’s Committee, Dinh Van Buoi, said the commune has been isolated for nearly one month. About 511 households are facing the shortage of food and more than 500 students don’t have enough books.
Also, the traffic system were seriously damaged. Villagers from Ca Bung, Ca Bong, and Canh Tien had to walk through the forest for more than 10 km to receive the relief aid.
Witnessing the locals’ miseries, soldiers tried their utmost to move 5 tonnes of rice, 8 tonnes of crop seeds, 43 packages of fish sauce, and 10,000 bags of notebooks to help the flood victims.
Two helicopters carried nearly 12 tonnes of relief aid to isolated areas. Alondside this, soldiers and other forces strived to repair the traffic system.
