Baby hurled to safety from blaze in Germany
The Telegraph: 1:55am GMT 05/02/2008
This was the dramatic moment when a two-year old child plummeted from a third storey window into the arms of a fireman after a suspected arson attack engulfed a family flat in Germany.
Horrified spectators watched as a policeman edged perilously towards the family, trapped after the wooden stairwell in the four-storey building collapsed in the blaze.
But fearing for the child's life, the desperate parents threw the baby to safety. The fate of the rest of the family is not known.
Nine people, including five children, died in the weekend blaze in the western German city of Ludwigshafen.
At least two other children were thrown to safety as locals piled high cushions, mattresses and pillows. Reports describe the more than 50 firemen tackling the inferno, smashing windows to rescue one child, who emerged blackened by soot.
Officials said it was possible more bodies would be found but the tenement building, home mainly to Turkish workers, was too unstable to enter.
It was not clear how many people were inside when the fire broke out. There are 52 official residents but police say the building was crowded with visitors believed to have been watching a carnival procession from the building.
Police fear that the blaze may have been started deliberately, possibly by neo-Nazis. Turkish homes have been targeted by far Right groups.
link
***
ms
.
