Watch: Children Falling from Flaming French Apartment Caught by Heroes 30 Feet Below
Two young children escaped from a blazing apartment in the southeastern French city of Grenoble by dropping 33 feet from a window and being caught by members of the public.
French media said the two brothers were unharmed by the fall but might have suffered smoke inhalation.
Footage of Tuesday’s dramatic rescue showed one of the brothers being dropped from at least three stories up as flames engulfed a balcony and black smoke billowed out of windows of the building.
As onlookers screamed, the older brother hung out of the apartment window and then let himself fall into the arms of people gathered below.
Alors qu’un #incendie s’était déclenché dans leur appartement, à #Grenoble ??, deux enfants pris au piège ont sauté du 3ème étage. Ils ont été miraculeusement sauvés par des habitants du quartier, qui les ont réceptionnés au pied de l’immeuble pic.twitter.com/DRCVQCG9KX
— FRANCE 24 Français (@France24_fr) July 22, 2020
The boys were hospitalized along with 17 of the building’s residents, according to French media. Four of the people who caught the boys were also hospitalized.
Athoumani Walid, 25, a student in Grenoble, broke one of his wrists as he helped catch the children.
He heard screams and went out to investigate after seeing the fire from his nearby apartment.
“We didn’t know what to do, but we walked up” to the burning apartment, Walid told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“We wanted to break the door but it wasn’t possible.” So they walked back downstairs and shouted for the boys to jump into their arms.
Incendie à Grenoble : «Sans nous, ces enfants seraient morts»
➡ Athoumani Walid est l’un des habitants du quartier de La Villeneuve qui ont rattrapé deux enfants prisonniers d’un appartement en flammes au 3e étage. Il raconte ce sauvetage miraculeux > https://t.co/LGJa72pV4F pic.twitter.com/DeuAG4fLcO— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) July 22, 2020
Although he was initially afraid for the boys, “when they jumped, fear disappeared, what mattered was to catch” them, he said.
Walid hopes the rescue will change people’s perceptions of the Villeneuve neighborhood of Grenoble where the events happened, and where there is a large immigrant population.
“We are told it’s a ‘sensitive’ neighborhood,” Walid said, “but yesterday we showed we are here for each other, and we save each other.”
Eric Piolle, the Grenoble mayor, congratulated the Villeneuve residents on the rescue, which he said underscored the city’s “tradition of solidarity and mutual help.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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