Mother forced to drop children from fourth-story window of burning building
In what has to be everyone’s worst nightmare, a mother in Pyeongtaek, South Korea was forced to drop her children, one by one, from the fourth story of a burning apartment block, before jumping herself.
Dramatic footage caught by a passer-by on camera captures the moment the 30-year-old woman dangles the child out the window before letting them fall to rescuers waiting with outstretched blankets.
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Daniel Raimondo, who is stationed at nearby Osan Air Base, told CNN that he was walking to dinner Saturday night when he noticed the clouds of smoke.
Sgt Raimundo and a colleague, First Sgt. Melanie Scott, co-ordinated other bystanders to take blankets from a nearby shop and began to convince the mother to drop her children, aged 1, 3 and 4, from the window as black smoke continued to billow from the second floor of the building.
Scott said that, at first, the mother was understandably reluctant to do so:
"You could tell she was scared. She didn't want to.”
But, as you can see in the video, spurred on by the crowd, she lets two of her children fall to those waiting below.
However, Raimondo said that the "last baby was the most difficult in my eyes, she just wouldn't let her go for some reason."
He repeatedly begged the mother: "Please just throw the baby down!"
"I remember her screaming (at) the baby, 'I love you, I love you. ...' Next thing you know she dropped the baby."
Amazingly, all survived without injury although the mother did suffer the effects of smoke inhalation.
Sgt Raimondo said she also fell more heavily, hitting the ground beneath the blanket - but someone had had the good sense to lay cushions beneath.
On Monday, the family - originally from Nigeria - met with their rescuers.
"I don't know how I would explain my thanks," said the children's father, Prince Enyioko. "I was so surprised, I see the people gathering here to rescue my family, especially the military."
And Sgt. Raimondo was able to speak to the little girl he had sat with after her rescue while her mother was being treated.
"I let her know that she was very brave and she flew like Supergirl. She just smiled," he said. "It was an emotional experience. The good news is they made it through alive.”
