Body of boy swept into sewer in southern Vietnam found after 3 days

The body of the boy, nine-year-old La Van Ty, from southern An Giang province, was found at midnight on in a manhole about 1 km away from the hole he was swept into on September 6, when heavy rain flooded the area.

Hundreds of firefighters and rescuers were mobilized for the search.

Ty’s mother, Nguyen Thi Hang, 32, confirmed that the body is her son’s.

The boy’s body was taken to a local morgue for necessary procedures before being transferred to his family.

Hang said she had not yet enrolled Ty in school since the boy spoke an idioglossia, or secret, personal language.

She therefore would leave her son under the care of his aunt every day before she went to work.

On Saturday afternoon, she went out to search for her son after she got home from work and couldn’t find the boy.

While searching for her son, Hang asked a local boy about Ty’s whereabouts, and the boy said he had seen Ty get swept into a sewer by floodwater while they played with each other nearby.

According to local residents, many manholes on the street were moved by the floodwaters, leaving the sewer uncovered, posing a threat to people and vehicles.

Meanwhile, the commune People’s Committee said that the street is part of a water drainage project that has yet to be completed, causing the inundation that led to the boy’s death

Tran Van Nam, standing deputy chairman of Binh Duong Province People’s Committee, praised the great efforts of the rescue force and offered them a reward of VND10 million (US$472). 

The Thuan An Town Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has given the boy’s family VND5 million as initial support.

On the same day, another boy, seven-year-old Le Van Manh, a grade-2 student at the Tan Hiep Primary School in Tan Uyen town, also died after being swept into a sewer.

At 4:30 pm that day, Manh and several other students got off a student transport van when it broke down on Road DH409, which was badly flooded.

The boy was then swept into a nearby sewer, and the other students in the van shouted for help.

Local police and rescuers were called to the scene to search for Manh. Rescuers found the student’s body at 7 pm.