Vietnamese little girl back home following recovery from 12th-floor balcony fall

The girl saying goodbye to a doctor at the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital

By Phong Lan
Deputy Head of the World News Desk
Dantri Online Newspaper

HANOI: The girl who was rescued after falling from the 12th floor of an apartment building in Hanoi is now at home after she recovered well and was discharged from the hospital in good health condition.

On Friday morning, the three-year-old girl waved her hands merrily to say goodbye to doctors at the Hanoi-based National Children’s Hospital.

Dr Hoang Hai Duc from the hospital said the girl has recovered very well and can return home1.

“It is like a miracle that the baby did not have serious injuries after falling from the 12th floor,” the doctor said. “During the five days she was monitored and treated at the hospital, she did not have a fever, coughing, or breathing difficulties and her urinary tract functioned normally. Her hip has been relocated and put in a cast. X-ray results were normal. The results of the CT scan of her brain revealed it was also normal.”

Doctors asked her parents to bring her back after two or three weeks so that they can recheck the hip.

The girl has only a dislocated hip after the fall

On March 4, representatives from the hospital came to visit and give presents to the girl before she was discharged.

Speaking at the meeting, the mother expressed her sincere thanks to the doctors for their treatment of her daughter.

“This was such great happiness for our family that our daughter has been saved,” she said

On February 28, the little girl climbed out of the balcony of her apartment on the 12th-floor of the 60B Apartment Building on Nguyen Huy Tuong Street when her parents walked out to see off guests. Some people at the opposite building saw her and screamed out for help.

A truck driver, Nguyen Ngoc Manh, who was waiting for customers at the location heard the screams and came out of his truck to see the girl hanging on the balcony.

He rushed out to the building and climbed onto the metal roof on the ground floor to catch the baby. The baby hung for some seconds before she fell down. Luckily the man was able to catch her.

The three year old-girl had climbed out of a balcony of the family apartment on the 12th floor of a building in Hanoi

Nguyen Ngoc Manh has received letters of compliments and rewards from PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Hanoi leaders, various departments, and the wide public for his bravery and quick actions that saved the little girl.

Manh refused to be called a hero and said that his action was normal and that anybody in his place at that time would do what he did.

The 31-year-old driver said that he would be delighted to become the girl’s foster father as suggested by the girl’s parents.