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FEATURE: Firefighter praised as hero after dangerous rescue

Lu Jui-chi, right, cuts a cake with family members and Yonghe Mayor Hung Yi-ping on Thursday outside his home in Yonghe, Taipei County. Liu, a firefighter, fought for his life in turbulent waters for more than five hours before being rescued after falling from a raft during a rescue mission on the Dajia River on Wednesday.  PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES

A firefighter who battled for survival in a muddy, turbulent river for more than five hours before being rescued in central Taiwan returned to his home in Yonghe City (永和), Taipei County, on Thursday to a hero’s welcome.

Lu Jui-chi (盧瑞棋), who fell from his raft during a rescue mission on the Dajia River (大甲溪) on Wednesday morning, was met with a hearty welcome by his family and enthusiastic neighbors.

Ushered into the family home by his father, Lu stepped across a pot of fire in accordance with a Taiwanese tradition to “emerge from misfortune,” after which he wolfed down a bowl of pig’s feet noodles, symbolizing good fortune, particularly in the wake of a major disaster.

Yonghe Mayor Hung Yi-ping (洪一平) and neighbors offered him cakes and red envelopes containing money to wish him “a good new life.”

Lu, 28, who joined the Dajia Fire Department only in February, was aboard a rubber raft with four other firefighters around 7:40am on Wednesday when he fell into the river, which was still swollen by floodwaters brought by Typhoon Sinlaku over the weekend.

Lu and his colleagues were searching for five people in three cars that had plunged into the river when part of the Houfeng Bridge (后豐橋) that connects Houli (后里) and Fengyuan (豐原) townships collapsed on Sunday evening after being weakened by the torrential rain brought by Sinlaku.

Lu tried to swim ashore but was unable to make it to the bank as the current was too strong.

Numb with fright and fatigue, at one point Lu began to panic until he recalled a lecturer telling him in the firefighters’ academy that “staying calm is the only way to rescue yourself in a crisis.”

Promising himself that he would stay alive, Lu managed to turn on his back and let the current carry him — a standard self-rescue method. He hit a rock in the middle of the river about 300m away from where he fell in and tried to cling onto it with both hands.

After about an hour his hands became numb with cold, so he turned himself around and clung to the rock with his legs.

After another hour, however, he found his legs becoming numb, so he turned around and grabbed the rock with his hands again, trying desperately not to be sucked back into the raging floodwaters.

On four occasions, Lu saw a rescue helicopter searching the river for him, but unable to spot him in the murky water.

Meanwhile, TV news crews had rushed to the scene and cable TV reports were broadcasting that “Lu had been missing for five hours,” that “the missing rescuer had probably been washed downstream” and “that his helmet and jacket had bee spotted” — reports that sent his parents into deep despair.

His father and mother drove from their home in Yonghe to Houli, fearing the worst.

It was not until about five hours after Lu fell in that worker Yang Ming-chin (楊明金), strolling along the bank of the river, spotted something moving out in the water.

Realizing that it was a man waving feebly, Yang ran to alert members of the Taichung Rescue and Relief Association, who had been searching for Lu.

Minutes later, Lu was lifted out of the river — battered, exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, but alive.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, where he was reunited with his very relieved parents.
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