Man saved from hours trapped in rift between HCMC houses

At around 10 p.m., the 41-year-old man named Tuan showed abnormal signs and climbed on top of the roof of a four-story house in an alley of Xom Chieu Street, District 4. He then ran on the roof, before falling into a rift in between the walls of two houses, which was 15 m deep. He was injured and called for help. After unsuccessful rescue attempts, locals decided to call for authorities.

Over 20 police officers were dispatched to the scene. They first used rope ladders to pull Tuan from the rift, but it was too narrow to do so. Oxygen was constantly pumped into the space. At around 2 a.m., officers were able to gain access to him by digging into one of the walls and get him out.

Authorities had to dig into a house's wall to rescue a man trapped behind it in HCMC, Nov. 29, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Vinh Khang

Tuan had minor injuries and was taken to hospital for a check-up. The police said Tuan might have been on stimulants, which may have caused him to be hallucinated and do erratic behaviors.