VietNamNet Bridge - A half-naked man stood in the middle of a flooded street to guide traffic. Under his feet was a hole with a diameter of more than 2.5m, a depth of 1m.

On the morning of October 17, the National Highway 1A, the section crossing Tan Tao A Ward, Binh Tan District, HCM City was flooded by high tide. A half- naked man stood in water, next to a pile of sandbags which were only several centimeters higher than the water surface, to control the traffic.

The man is Nguyen Van Linh, 40, from the central province of Quang Ngai, a worker at a stainless steel enterprise. Linh stood there from 5am to guide vehicles to avoid the pit in the middle of the road, which was cover by water. Vehicles of all kinds followed Linh’s instruction.

We approached him. The water was up on our knees. Moving closely to Linh, we suddenly fell because of making false steps. Linh told us to stop because there was a pit on the road.

Linh said under his feet was a pretty broad and deep pit, which was 2.5m wide and 1m deep. He said the hole had appeared for over a week. As it was covered by water, many vehicles fell into the hole, causing serious traffic jams.

The authorities sent a van with rock to fill up the hole but the hole was still there. Linh and many locals voluntarily took about 30 bags of sand to fill the hole but sand was swept away by rising tides.



Linh and his friends piled up sand bags to make a barrier in front of the hole. Linh stood on the sand bag to control the traffic.

On the morning of October 17, before Linh was here to guide the traffic, five trucks of 5 tons to 11 tons were stuck at the pit until they were rescued by a crane. In addition, more than 30 motorcycles also fell into the hole. Many people had to go to the hospital for emergency aid.

Observing this section of road, we noted that the tides rose very highly. Local people made many fences to warn drivers of deep flooding sites. A man stood near a manhole to pick up rubbish each to keep the flow running smoothly.

All of them worked voluntarily. Meanwhile, not far away from the hole is the headquarters of the Binh Tan District police force.




The place where should have the presence of the police and relevant agencies is completely absent of responsible persons. It all depends on the sense of voluntary labor of local residents.

Linh said he had asked his boss’ permission to be absent from work for several days to be here to do the work of traffic policemen.

Tran Chanh Nghia