Step by step through the pain

Wherever he sat, he cried, even while eating.

Every night, Mrs. Yen's sleep is not complete, she sleeps for 2-3 hours and then wakes up, sometimes staying awake all night, missing her youngest daughter's family.

Unable to mentally stabilize after the incident, the woman relied on her smartphone, listening to late-night storytelling programs, forcing herself to fall asleep. When the device ran out of battery, the space returned to silence, leaving her alone with the pain.

Ms. Yen said, a child who loses a parent is called an orphan, a man who loses a wife is called a widow, a woman who loses a husband is called a widower, but there is no name for the fathers and mothers who lose their children and grandchildren. That is because there is no word enough to describe that pain.

In 2015, Mr. Dien and his wife bought an apartment on the 5th floor for 660 million VND, right when the Khuong Ha mini apartment building was put up for sale. As the first people to live here, responsible and enthusiastic, he and another elderly couple were elected by the residents to be security guards.

Because Ms. T. works as a chef in Phu Tho and her husband is a company employee, her two children NHA (15 years old, Hoang Mai High School) and NAĐ. (11 years old, Khuong Dinh Middle School) have lived with their grandparents for many years. Every day, Ms. Yen takes the children to and from school.

Not long ago, Ms. T. and her husband moved to Hanoi to live with her parents. They planned to rent an apartment in the opposite alley to be closer to her parents and two children, planning to move on September 1. However, the landlord reported that there were no houses for rent yet, so Ms. T.'s family still lived with her parents in a mini apartment, but unexpectedly encountered a disaster.

At around 11pm on September 12, Mr. Dien was on security duty at the apartment building when he discovered a fire on the electrical panel on the first floor. The fire was small, so he carried a fire extinguisher to put it out, but "the more he sprayed, the bigger the fire got."

He quickly called his wife and alerted all the residents. At that time, the 9-storey apartment building with an attic, about 200 square meters wide, divided into 40 apartments for rent and resale, had almost all the lights turned off. Most of the residents had gone to bed, some young people from the floors heard the fire alarm and rushed downstairs.

Ms. Yen ran back upstairs, shouted "fire", and brought a special tool kit down to the first floor. She, her husband and neighbors used 10 fire extinguishers to continuously put out the fire but were unsuccessful.

A series of motorbikes on the first floor started to catch fire, making loud explosions. The male security guard turned off the circuit breaker, but the smoke and fire quickly engulfed the first floor and spread to the upper floors.

Ms. Yen wanted to go to the 5th floor to call her daughter, her husband and two grandchildren, but when she reached the 3rd floor, a resident stopped her, saying "everyone already knows". In a panic, she and the crowd ran downstairs to escape.

Families on the first and second floors quickly escaped to safety. Those on the upper floors, including Mr. Dien's daughter's family, all ran to the top floor, but the door was locked. The stairwell was packed with people.

The next morning, the family went to 8 hospitals across Hanoi to look for Ms. T. and her husband and two children, but there was no sign of them. That same afternoon, the staff of the Funeral Home at Hospital 103 notified their relatives of their portraits.

"I regret and feel remorse for not being able to save my children and grandchildren," Ms. Yen cried.

Since moving to live with her brother, Ms. Yen and her husband have struggled to get through the day. Chronic insomnia has caused her to lose 2kg, while Mr. Dien has lost 5kg. Worried about her parents' health and mental state, the eldest daughter, Ngo Le Huyen (33 years old), moved in to live with them to take care of everything.

On November 7, the elderly couple received the money from the 132 billion VND donated by the Thanh Xuan District Fatherland Front. Knowing that they could not stay there forever, they discussed and bought an old apartment on the same floor as their brother's house for convenience.

The house is about 25 square meters wide, including one bedroom and one living room, the total cost of purchase and repair is more than one billion VND.

Every morning, the couple helps each other exercise. Mr. Dien cycles for half an hour, while his wife walks, hoping to improve her spirit and health.

The after-effects of the fire left them unable to work, and "no one would hire us anymore." Ms. Yen has seven screws in her arm, the result of an accident 10 years ago, which prevents her from doing anything, including washing dishes or taking care of children. They plan to save the remaining allowance for emergencies.

The day she opened the door to her new home, Mrs. Yen's eyes lit up, while Mr. Dien still looked into the distance. She hoped that their life together would soon stabilize, as a new beginning, but she didn't know when she would be able to forget the pain.

"My husband and I will never be able to repay the debt of gratitude to our generous donors," she said.

The most lacking thing is family affection

The fire at Khuong Ha mini apartment building accidentally orphaned Le Tam N. (13 years old). The girl was the only member of a family of four to survive, thanks to being pulled into a house by neighbors for shelter.

After emergency treatment at Hanoi Medical University Hospital, he was taken by relatives to his hometown of Dan Phuong to mourn his parents and younger brother.

After the incident, Tam N. returned to school and moved in with her uncle Bui Nguyen Dien's family (her mother's brother) in Thanh Xuan district.

Mr. Dien and his wife were assigned by his paternal and maternal grandparents the task of guardianship and care for N. He admitted that the biggest difficulty was raising his granddaughter properly, being both gentle and firm.

The house is 1km from Khuong Dinh Secondary School, convenient for N. to go to school every day. Her life is gradually stable, trying to forget the pain. However, sometimes when someone comes to visit, N. is tormented by painful memories.

"The family has received enough subsidies and plans to open a separate savings account for the child. For now, our job is to work together to create a warm home, a loving family for the child," said Mr. Dien. What N. lacks most is family affection.

The person who saved baby N. from the "fire god's fury" on the night of September 12 was Mr. Vu Viet Hung (40 years old), who lives in room 702. When N. was exhausted and leaning against the door, he pulled the baby inside, stuffed wet blankets into the cracks of the door, and forced everyone away from the hallway, sitting close to the open window.

He continuously fanned the smoke outside, while the members covered their heads with wet blankets to prevent smoke inhalation. Realizing that there was a signal from the fire department, he used a flashlight to signal, continuously shouting loudly: "Room 702 has people!".

At 2:00 a.m. on September 13, the fire truck's water hose sprayed to the window of apartment 702. They burst into happiness and were led down the stairs by rescuers and taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.

After 10 days of emergency treatment at Bach Mai Hospital, Mr. Hung's family of 5 was discharged and moved to live with his grandparents in Khuong Ha.

"For us, the apartment fire was a huge shock and incident that happened so suddenly, causing the loss of many families. Luckily, my family is still home with all its members," said Mr. Hung.

Receiving the subsidy from benefactors allocated by the Thanh Xuan District Fatherland Front, the man said he was not in a hurry to buy a house, but would use it to treat his family's illness, which is expected to last a year, until the toxic gas in his body is gone.

"We still have regular check-ups every month because our health has not fully recovered," said Mr. Hung, who has just returned to work for nearly a month and has not been able to catch up with the pace. His wife has also returned to work, and the children are going to school to join their friends.

However, life cannot be as before.

"No one can choose their circumstances. We will practice changing our lifestyle, teaching our children more skills, and handling situations they may encounter in life," said Mr. Hung.

Live to give back to life

On the fateful night, Ms. Le Thi Thoi (41 years old) and her son Tran Dai Phong (17 years old) decided to jump from the 9th floor of their apartment building to the 6th floor terrace of their neighbor's house. The "risking their lives" jump saved the lives of both mother and son when they realized that they could hardly hope for a miracle.

Phong said that on the night of September 12, while he was studying in the living room, he suddenly saw smoke in the hallway and quickly ran into the bedroom to call his mother.

Apartment 901 was located along the stairwell, so it quickly absorbed smoke. A column of black smoke billowed up. The mother and daughter closed the main door, turned off the circuit breaker, turned off the gas valve, and used blankets and mats to cover the gaps. Smoke continued to pour in, engulfing the entire house. The balcony where they were drying clothes was their last refuge.

Ms. Thoi recalled the days when she stood drying clothes, she often looked down at the rooftop of the house next door, planning an escape route in case of an emergency. A stainless steel horizontal bar of the tiger cage was rusted and slightly loose. A few times, she tried to stick her head out through that hole.

The mother and son used knives to knock on the railing to call for help, while prying open the tiger cage to create an escape route. There were no signals around, the back of the building was dead silent, only the flickering fire.

Sister Thoi climbed out from behind the railing, stood close to the edge of the wall, turned on the light from her phone and looked down. For the first three seconds, she saw a blurry scene, then black smoke obscured her vision.

Before jumping, she turned to her son and told him: "I'll jump first, you next. Don't be afraid!"

With that, the woman jumped down and passed out. Dai Phong was scared, hesitated for a few seconds, then jumped after his mother. He crawled a few steps to call for help, and gradually lost consciousness as the rescue team approached.

The woman suffered chest trauma, a broken spine, a broken rib cage, a broken pelvis, and many other injuries. She underwent two major surgeries and was in a coma for two consecutive days at Hanoi Medical University Hospital. Her son suffered a crushed heel and pelvic injury and was treated at Bach Mai Hospital.

During the first days in the hospital, Ms. Thoi suffered from excruciating pain. She begged the doctor to use strong painkillers or even anesthesia to help her forget the pain, but to no avail.

In times of pain, she recalls her own situation. As a single mother, she takes care of everything at home, from changing the faucet, fixing the light bulb, to changing the fan blades. Having struggled from her hometown of Thuong Tin to Hanoi, she has gradually become accustomed to the challenges of life.

This time, she was not allowed to fall.

Thinking of her son in the hospital and her nearly 70-year-old mother as motivation, the woman calmed herself down and practiced rehabilitation exercises even though the doctor had previously predicted "critical, complete paralysis of both legs".

"My colleagues say I smile a lot and live an optimistic life, but sometimes I hide my sadness inside," she recalled the day she found out she had to have her arm re-operated, and sat outside the clinic door crying.

Nearly two months after the fire, Thoi and her mother learned to sit and walk like children. Her right arm was covered with bandages, covering a long scar from two surgeries to fix three broken bones. Thanks to the spinal brace, she could sit firmly and walk a short distance. Every time she lay down, her pelvic area ached, making her sleep incomplete.

She quit her accounting job and rented a room about 400 meters from Ho Tung Mau High School so her son could finish his final year of high school. Dai Phong returned to school in mid-October in a wheelchair and crutches. The school moved the classroom from the second floor to the first floor to make it easier for students to move around.

Phong was given a small table, a pillow to support his injured leg, and another pillow to support his head when tired. Because of his poor health, he could only sit for the first two periods. For the following periods, the school allowed him to lie down on a chair to listen to the lecture.

The 17-year-old boy said that in the first days of learning to walk, the weight of his body was put on his pelvis and his injured foot made him cry in pain.

"At that time, I was sad and depressed. But when I received encouragement from my mother and classmates, I stood up and continued," Phong said his dream was to become a programmer, but after the incident, he was rethinking.

Every morning, Phong is taken to school by his grandmother in a wheelchair, returns home at noon, and rests in the afternoon. Sister Thoi stays home to do some odd jobs, and depends on her mother Dao Thi Thanh for all her daily activities.

On November 5, Thoi and her children received the donation from a benefactor, considering it a "debt of gratitude for life". She used the money for long-term medical treatment, and the rest to find a new house.

The mother did not expect her son to study well or become an outstanding person. She told him to remember that this was a big event in his life, and hoped that when Phong grew up, he would respond to everyone's love and pass on the love to the next generation.

"We receive kindness from others, then share that kindness with those who are more disadvantaged," she turned to Dai Phong and said.

The experienced woman, who looks younger than her 41 years, optimistically said that life for her and her child will still be difficult, but "being alive is a blessing."