FELA Lawyer News Blog

HA NOI, VIETNAM — The heroic actions of Vietnamese railroad worker, Truong Xuan Thuc, saved the lives of 350 passengers when he risked his life to pull and hold the emergency brake in the face of an imminent collision with a truck that crossed the tracks.

The train crashed into the truck, pinning him in the wreckage, but only after he managed to slow down the train enough to save the lives of the passengers and fellow railroad workers and avoid a more serious incident. Three rail cars derailed in the mishap.

The driver suffered serious injuries in the train accident. His left hand was severed and his leg was broken and he received injuries to his face, but it is certain that without his courageous action, people would have died and more rail cars would have been derailed.

The train involved belonged to the Ha Noi Railway Engine Company. The incident happened in Ha Nam Province, Vietnam on Friday, August 6, 2010 when a truck driver was crossing the tracks even though the train whistle was blowing to warn him.

Dao Quang Hung was Thuc’s driving assistant at the time. In an article that appeared in the AsiaOne.com website, Hung described Thuc’s response to the situation. He said that when the train was 100 meters from hitting the truck (a little more than the distance of a football field). Hung said, “Thuc, without any hesitation, used his hand to pull the emergency brake to reduce the speed of the train.”

Thuc probably knew that he would be hurt or killed because he would have to keep hold of the brake handle all the way up to the point of impact, but he kept hold of the brake handle despite personal danger.

In the AsiaOne.com article, Deputy director Hoang Ngoc Triu, of the Ha Noi Railway Engine Company also commented on the incident. For many years Triu himself was a train driver and knew that there was an ordinary brake behind his chair and if he had used that brake instead of the emergency brake, then he would not have lost his hand. However, according to Triu, Thuc made a decision to use the emergency brake, which was the best way to slow down the train at that moment.

When Thuc was rescued from the train cab, they had to remove the whole chair in order to save his leg.

Thuc had been working as a train driver for over 20 years. After the accident, the director of the Ha Noi Railway Engine Company, Nguyen Dinh Thong, said they would find a suitable job for Thuc after his recovery.

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Published by FELA lawyer Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP

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