Last Saturday, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau police department dispatched seven officers to rescue a man that had gotten stuck between two walls on Nguyen Hien Street.

Nguyen Quyen, 85, was found lying between the two walls after accidentally falling into the gap. The small alley is said to be used to let the light and wind inside a house through a door.

Quyen was lying on his side between the walls near the door, unable to move.

"He has dementia. When he opened the door to go out, he stumbled over a water pipe and fell," a family member told police, adding they had attempted to drag him out, but to no avail.

"Calm down, we'll get you out immediately," Do Anh Linh, head of the firefighting and rescue police division, assured the elderly man.

As demolition could risk bringing the entire structure down, Linh decided to use ropes and planks to hatch a rescue plan.

Officers lifted the man's head off the ground to be placed on a plank below, then used the ropes to secure his body, and drag him from the narrow gap.

Quyen was later sent to a local medical station for a checkup.