Free overnight rescue team in Saigon (broken car, out of gas, broken spark plug, ...)

The students still sitting in the university lecture hall, the seamstress during the day working on fabrics, or the truck driver for hire...

When the night gradually fell, the stream of people rushed home after a hard day's work, this group of young people drove around the streets of Ho Chi Minh City to help those unfortunates with car damage or encounter. Accidents in the middle of the night are completely free.

They are members of the Southbound Free Traffic Support Patrol, or Southbound SOS for short.

Near 12 o'clock on the night of 9-12, he was driving home well after a late night shift when suddenly Vo Trung Tin's car blew out a tire. The wheel wobbles clinging to the road surface. Looking at it, Tin knew that his car had rolled a nail. Tin, 20 years old, from Tra Vinh, went to Saigon to work as a worker.

In the cold night of Saigon, Ha Huy Giap street (Thanh Loc ward, district 12) also began to be sparsely populated at this time. The yellow light reflected the young man's shadow slowly leading the car to the side of the road.

The house is only about a kilometer away, it's only a few minutes by car, but now the car is broken, how can I go home. Then, as if suddenly remembering, Tin took the dialer of SOS Southbound to ask for help.

“My car was hit by a nail. My house is on Nga Tu Ga overpass, and was nailed right under the bridge. After going for a while, the cake deflates completely. The first time I had a cake leak that night, I was so worried. Money is a thing, but at night like that, where can I find a place to fix my car?

Remember that once you know and save the number one of your teammates, you should call to ask. Wait about 10 minutes then you come. I'm so glad. Just fix it up a bit and you're done. I thought I had to push the car home, but I don't know what to do now" - Tin laughed and recalled.

The fate came to the team from there. On the night of December 19 and early morning, December 20, a young man suddenly came to say thank you and asked to join SOS Huong Nam. That guy is Vu Trung Tin, a worker who was helped by team members to patch the car 12 days ago.

Asking about it, it turns out that many members of the team also from the fate "I had a car breakdown" that came to know about SOS Huong Nam, got help, and then asked to join the team until now. “Those who unfortunately had a car accident or had an accident last night understand how miserable it is,” said Mr. Hoang Anh, one of the three co-founders of SOS Huong Nam.

The accident more than a year ago he still remembers vividly, which is also what inspired him and two friends to found this team.

“I was also a victim in the night, but there was no support from the people. The incident happened in September 9, when returning from work at night. At that time around 2018 am, I was driving on Highway 2 when suddenly a dog chased a cat in the night running across the street. Because the road was empty, I ran fast, so I couldn't handle it in time, hit the cat, fell and hit my head on the road, my limbs were scratched.

I lay there, my head still conscious but my legs stopped moving, nothing could be done. After lying down for about 30 minutes, the patrolling force saw me and took me to the hospital. I ask myself: What if I and my loved ones suffer like this without help? SOS Huong Nam was born with the desire that no one else has to fall into the same story as me” – Mr. Hoang Anh mused.

“We often support people to change the car's intestines, patch the car, some cars lose their keys, then we support the car to power up so that people can run home. With traffic accidents, we assist victims in the initial treatment and then take them to the hospital. As at SOS South direction, District 12, there are two supportive nursing students. The job is just that” – Hoang Anh briefly.

It sounds simple, but you have to directly follow the members to understand the hardships as well as the hearts of people who "like to worry about money".

Near 21pm, we were present at a roadside toad shop right in front of the District 12 First Aid Center to start a night following the South direction SOS group to help people. In the early days of December, it was cold in Saigon. Even though I pulled my coat up to my neck, the wind still blew in.

"It's so cold, bro" - I mumbled, rubbing my hands together to keep the cold out, and then started a conversation with an early member. "It's warm now, a few days ago I had to wear a coat, but now I don't need it, it's warm when I run a little, it's hot" - he laughed.

He is Nguyen Ho Viet Thang (25 years old), is a driver. During the day, he drives a small truck to transport rented goods, whoever hires him can carry anything, as long as it's not prohibited goods, smoothly, around 16 o'clock he finishes his work. Going back to eat and rest until the evening, I ran out here to go with my brothers.

“I joined the team about 8-9 months ago. I can't sleep early either, normally it's only 23 o'clock at night, this is even more useful. But there are also days when there are many accidents, car damage, 2-3 am to return. The auto repair shop closes at around 20 o'clock, and it's late at 21 o'clock. Many people go to work late at night, walk 5-7 kilometers, where there is no car repair shop.

Then the students, students do not have money, during the day it only takes 15.000-20.000 VND, replacing the intestines is about 80.000-90.000 VND, but sometimes at night they are "cut and slashed", the intestines are cut for 200.000 VND. One night, just patching for them the tire, inflating the tire, changing the tube ... I also sleep better, eat better. It's not fun," Thang said.

After the group meeting, checking the walkie-talkie, the necessary tools, the group started to go. Running normally, suddenly the team members accelerated. Asking about a new victim has just telegraphed needing help.

At 23 o'clock, Mr. Tran Van Loc went from Binh Duong to District 12, when he reached Le Van Khuong Street, the car stalled and had to push for more than 30 minutes to National Highway 1A, then he met his teammates. After the inspection, beyond the team's ability, the members supported his car to go home near An Suong market so that he could take him to the repair shop tomorrow.

“Your support makes me very happy. Lucky to meet you tonight, but I don't know what to do. Pushing like this, tomorrow morning will probably not go to work, "- Mr. Loc said.

At 0:1 am, Uncle Pham Van Khoat (living in Tan Binh district, driving a motorbike taxi) was busy with guests pushing on Highway 12A, passing the Cultural House in District XNUMX. Seeing that, the team came down to help, after checking When I checked, I knew that my car had hit an iron nail, so I quickly patched it up for him.

“Lucky to meet the SOS team, but in fact the car broke down in the middle of the night, the repair shop was closed while carrying passengers, I don't know what to do, I am very happy to see you guys enthusiastically supporting me and hope the team will continue to develop develop and help more people,” said Mr. Khoat.

Having just patched a car for a technology driver, Chau Thanh received a call for help from a group of friends Pham Nguyen The Nhat whose car was hit by a nail on Highway 1A. 5 minutes later the team was there.

Nhat said that he and his friend were riding a motorbike from Go Vap district to their home at Nga Tu Ga, when they reached National Highway 1A, the car ran over a nail, unable to move on. Nhat called an acquaintance named Nghia to ask for help, but when he got there, Nghia's car was also hit by a nail. The team members quickly checked the two nail-rolling motorbikes and shared support so that you could go home early…

The story that made us remember forever on the night of December 19 was around 12 pm, on National Highway 23A (District 1), a man was going from Thu Duc to District 12 when he fell from his car.

Several people passed by but no one stopped until the team members arrived. Two female nurses quickly assisted in washing the wound and applying a temporary bandage to bring this person to the nearest hospital. However, because he was drunk, he was uncomfortable and refused to let the support team take him to the hospital. The members then had to follow this person home.

Mr. Hoang Anh said that SOS Huong Nam currently has three groups. Usually a night, the average team will handle 4-5 car damage cases, 1-2 accident cases, there are also nights without. Accidents are usually concentrated in the South direction SOS group in District 12.

Nguyen Dang Kim Ngan (23 years old, third year nursing student, Vien Dong College) has been joining the team for two months now. I have directly handled three traffic accidents, two of which were caused by drunk drivers. There was a case where the victim crashed into an eel, seriously injured. The second case is milder, also due to drinking but falling on his own, also broke his collarbone.

“The first time I sat in the back of a car with a speed of 50-60 km / h, I was so nervous, I got out of the car and my legs beat like this. But when I saw the aunts and uncles lying there, I was exhausted. Usually you have to look at the head first, then see the hands and feet. We often use gauze for first aid for our aunts and uncles and then drive them to the hospital," Ngan said.

"But for drunk people, they can control their words, and there were even cases where they yelled at the team: "If you don't eat, why don't you just go and do this?" - another member continued.

There are also many wacky stories, people would rather walk than refuse to receive help. “Young people, when they see us in an accident, feel free to ask for help. However, some of the older aunts and uncles did not know much about the team, so when we approached, they refused outright even though they had explained a lot.

At this time, I had to wait until the civil defense checkpoint, the police bot along the road, I said to the aunt and uncle: "Now you stand here and I will fix the car here for you too. Only then did she accept it." But it's not always smooth, going forever and not seeing any pins, uncles and aunts are determined to push, force majeure team members will follow quietly, go to crowded places, and offer support" - he Hoang Anh tells the story. So far, the color of SOS Huong Nam has become more familiar to many people in District 12, so the team's support work is also easier.

Reminds me of the story of a special victim that every time I repeat it, Hoang Anh and the team members still remember it like it was.

This woman works as a beverage vendor on Pham The Hien Street (District 8). That day was more than 23 o'clock, in the middle of 2019, where she went, she broke the spark plug and couldn't run it. Seeing a few young men come and say to help repair the car, she was shocked.

Seeing that they were really gentle, also wearing this and that uniform, but at night, being a girl, each family was far away, she clicked her tongue and agreed to receive help. Giving the car to a member of the repair team, her hand was holding the baga tightly, afraid of the young people driving the car and running away. After fixing it, she went straight. The members also went home.

Thought that was over, who knew the next day a strange phone number called the hotline to say thank you. “It turned out that I broke the spark plug last night. I was so scared last night that I forgot to thank you guys.

However, since then, every 1-2 weeks, she sends dozens of smoothies to the team. If you don't receive it, I will book Grab to send it over and have to receive it. After that, just talk to her. Sometimes it's just a few bottles of mineral water from relatives who love to buy it for them, but people are very touched" - Mr. Hoang Anh shared with a smile.

***

Have you ever fallen in love with the movie? The Avengers, the film tells the story of superheroes who work together to protect the Earth from the destructive plots of evil forces. You used to fall in love with Iron Man, God of Thunder Thor… with magical supernatural powers. But those are the heroes on the screen.

In real life there is a lot of real life with real action. They solve crimes all night to protect the peace of the sleeping city people, they live their lives in the football matches that bring the name of Vietnam to glory on the map of five continents, they quietly help the unfortunate people in the dark. difficulties and tribulations: car breakdowns, accidents along the way such as Southbound SOS... They also deserve to be called heroes.

At 2 am, the streets of Ho Chi Minh City have become deserted, and now is the time for these young people to complete their night shift. Despite the difficulties and hardships, the smile is always present, because today they patched a few more cars, replaced the broken spark plugs... for the people who had unfortunate accidents in the night.

Ho Chi Minh City – The city of gratitude is more beautiful every day because of such people.

Perform: Truong Giang – Nguyen Tra (content, photos & videos) – Hoang Quyen (graphics)