There is a saying that people are willing to cross oceans and travel thousands of miles for the sake of their love. Ho Hoang Hung, a Vietnamese man, proved this right as he embarked on a journey to row almost 2,000 kilometres from Thailand to India to meet his wife in Mumbai.
However, his quest remained incomplete as Hung was ill-equipped to cross the vast distance in his inflatable boat that had no navigation system and had insufficient water and food. Luckily for him, he was rescued by the Thai Navy on March 23, 2022, after spending 18 days in the sea.
Hung told the Thai Navy that he was compelled to make the perilous journey as he was unable to meet his wife for two years due to pandemic restrictions. The 37-year-old arrived at the Suvarnabhumi airport in Thailand from Vietnam on March 2, hoping to board a flight to India. However, he was unable to get a visa. Then he took a bus to Phuket where he brought an inflatable boat and on March 5 and decided to row it all the way to the Indian coast.
However, as reported by The Guardian, he was unable to make much progress even after days of travelling and could only cover about 80 kilometres off the Thai mainland before he was spotted by a fishing boat that reported him to authorities who eventually rescued him.
The Thai Navy posted about the incident on their Facebook page. The story has since gone viral. While sharing Hung’s pictures, the Thai Navy said, “No matter how big the ocean is it can’t block this man’s true love.”
