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.
PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
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.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS