Boy chasing cat gets stuck between two walls, freed after firefighters coat him in cooking oil

The boy, Tran Quoc Dat, had climbed onto a corrugated metal roof more than 4 meters high to retrieve his cat at around 10 a.m. in Binh Co Ward, a neighborhood in the city’s former Binh Duong Province area.

While crossing the roof, he slipped and plunged into a gap just over 20 centimeters wide between two houses.

The boy landed on a concrete footing, the remnant of an old fence that once divided the two properties, about 2 meters from an opening at the rear. His struggles only wedged him in tighter. Neighbors rushed to help but could not pull him free without causing him pain.

Six officers from Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue Team No. 32 under the Ho Chi Minh City Police arrived with specialized equipment about 20 minutes after the alarm was raised. They initially considered hydraulic cutters and drilling through the wall, but switched tactics over concerns the heavy tools could injure the child in such a confined space.

Instead, officers applied cooking oil to lubricate the boy’s body and used ropes and their hands to carefully ease him free. They kept him calm throughout and gave him water to maintain his strength.

After about 20 minutes of work, Dat was extracted safely. He suffered minor scratches and was in stable condition.