3 children were stuck in the middle of flash floods with no hope of making it out—farmer's unconventional thinking saved their lives

The farmer realized that the locals won't be able to reach the children on time and somehow knew what to do.

PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGO

(L) A flooded river; (R) A farmer working on his land. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Chris McLoughlin; KDP)

Novelty in making use of tools and resources can alter the course of events during a crisis. A farmer did just that during flash floods in Vietnam's Gia Lai. Three children were stuck in the overflowing river water because of a sudden surge and strong currents in the stream. As the others left to find a canoe, the farmer came up with an ingenious idea to save the children from the rapidly increasing water levels, per Explorersweb.

A farmer using a drone in his fields. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | baranozdemir — A farmer using a drone in his fields. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by baranozdemir)

The farmer, Tran Van Nghia, was working on his lands in the village in Vietnam's central highlands when the incident happened. He heard screams for help from the Ba River, situated near his field. The man explained that the children were herding cows in the river when the water levels started increasing, per Tuoi Tre Online, a local news outlet. The surge likely happened due to the heavy rains upstream, trapping the children on a drowning island in the middle of the river. Locals present at the scene tried to swim to the children, but it was not possible because of the strong currents.

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As nobody knew what to do, they decided to rush to get a canoe to save the children. However, the water levels were rising at such a great speed that the farmer felt unsure if they would be able to make it to the children on time. Amid all the chaos, Tran came up with an idea and used a drone to rescue the trapped kids. He tied a rope to the drone he usually used to spread fertilizers in a field, and sent it to the middle of the river, successfully saving two out of the three children, as they could hold onto the rope when the drone flew back. Two children were airlifted from the island, and in the meantime, people returned with a canoe and saved the third child with the help of the same.

Two separate videos of each rescue were shared by Tuấn Nguyễn on Facebook. One showed the kids in knee-deep waters, even while they're standing on an island, grabbing onto the swinging ropes. The drone flew to the dry land with the child hanging from it while passing over the river with strong currents. Tran eventually brought the drone down carefully so as not to scare the child any further.

Soon enough, the drone was out to save another child, per the second clip. The girl clung onto the ropes just as the first boy had, but she was rapidly swinging because of the wind, which caused her to let out a guttural scream. One could also see the farmer carefully controlling and navigating the drone to bring the children to safety. The girl jumped from the ropes as she reached the banks of the river and walked away unscathed. The farmer's heroic rescue mission caught many eyeballs online, with comments praising his quick thinking. Hoàng Thiên Nga commented, "This story is... so interesting, Tuan Nguyen Tien Le. Let me send my best wishes to the owner of this amazing drone."