Drowning victim’s son promises to help his mom
11-year old recalls father pulling him from ocean riptide
The Buis, a family of five from Reading, looked forward to a fun-filled vacation swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand at the Jersey shore.
The beach vacation quickly turned into a nightmare July 29 before the fun even began when Thanh Bui, 58, drowned in the ocean near Atlantic City while trying to save his 11-year-old son, Vincent.
“It seemed like it was a normal day,” Vincent said Tuesday during an interview in a conference room at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, 151 N. Ninth St., the church where the family regularly attends Mass.
“My dad was insisting we go right to the beach. I wanted to swim in the hotel pool. We went to the beach.”
As Vincent recalled July 29th’s tragedy, his mother, Diep Thi Huynh, 40, and his father’s sister, Tam Bui, 60, held back tears.
His younger sisters, Cathy, 10, and Anna, 2, sat quietly listening July 30th to their brother as he provided vivid details of the day before. Bui also had a fourth child, Matthew, 20, who was not present for the interview.
Riptide leads to drowning
The family arrived 7 p.m. Sunday night at a hotel casino on the Atlantic City marina, a short drive to the boardwalk and downtown beaches.
“When we arrived, the hotel pool was closed,” Vincent said. “The hotel was so beautiful.”
Early the next morning, the boy said, the family drove to the beach in downtown Atlantic City, parking off New Jersey Avenue.
“We arrived at 9 a.m.,” Vincent said. “I went in the water. A riptide pulled me out toward Steel Pier. I did not feel the force.”
The boy said when his father came running into the water to
rescue him, his dad was pulled under water.
The drowning occurred around 9:30 a.m., about a half an hour before the lifeguards are on duty to provide safety for ocean swimmers.
Bui and his son were transported to the Atlanti-Care Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, where Thanh Bui died.
“The only thing I got was a half of bottle of sea water in my mouth,” said Vincent, who is going into sixth grade at Holy Guardian Angels School in Muhlenberg Township.
Cathy said she was playing at the ocean edge of the beach when she saw her father go into the water to save her brother.
“I was sobbing after seeing my father drowning,” said Cathy, who is going into fifth grade at Holy Guardian Angels.
Jim Glorioso Jr., a former police officer in Amsterdam, N.Y., who was on the beach, reported to Atlantic City police Monday that he witnessed the father struggling in the water.
Glorioso said he found the victim after he had gone underwater and that he attempted to pull him to shore on a boogie board.
Firefighters with the Atlantic City Fire Department immediately began to provide CPR to Thanh, who was unresponsive.
Atlantic City Police Sgt. Kevin Fair said July 30th that Bui’s death is the first drowning of the year in Atlantic City.
“Unfortunately, we have had about one a year for several years,” Fair said. “The Atlantic City Beach Patrol hits their stands at 10 a.m. As was the case yesterday, the beach patrol chief was on the beach preparing for the day and was the first in the water.”
The New Jersey Department of Health Medical Examiner’s office reported that there were three unintentional drownings in Atlantic County in 2016, and eight in 2017.
Numbers for 2018 and this year were not available.
Family plans on hold
For the Bui family, plans to travel to the Bahamas and move to a new home in the suburbs have been put on hold.
Vincent remembers good times fishing and playing Tball with his father.
Cathy said she also loved fishing with him.
“Me and my dad had a lot of fun,” she said.
Thanh Bui immigrated to Reading from Vietnam in 1980.
Vincent recalled vacationing one summer in his father’s homeland in South Vietnam.
The children, meanwhile, said they plan to help their mother, who owns a nail salon in Boyertown, recover from the tragedy and keep the house.
“I will be the one helping my mom,” Vincent said. “Our dad took care of everything.”