Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This video shows a heroic man putting his great-nephew on his back and scaling the outside of a high-rise tower block to escape a fire in their home.
The fire started in their 8th-floor flat, and the great-uncle in his 50s, Mr Peng, had no choice but to escape via their sitting room window.
Video taken by other residents in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province in Central China, shows flames and thick smoke spewing from the home on 21st August.
He is seen walking carefully along the building’s ledge while his four-year-old great-nephew clings to his back, wrapping both arms around his relative’s neck.
The dramatic video shows Mr Peng holding onto the building’s metal cladding and lowering himself and the boy onto the ledge of the floor below, where they both sit awaiting rescue.
Picture Credit: AsiaWire
Changsha Fire Captain Zou Tao said: “We saved the two people in unit number 702 on the seventh floor.
“There was too much smoke on the eighth floor, so they walked along the outer wall and managed to reach a window on the seventh floor.”
Zou added: “We were in such a rush to save them I didn’t get a chance to ask how he managed to climb one floor down.”
Images showed Mr Peng being piggybacked out the building by a fireman, followed shortly by the boy.
Mr Peng and his great-nephew were taken to Changsha Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for treatment.
Neither was in any life-threatening condition, but Mr Peng remains in the burn ward while the boy will receive at least one week of treatment for inhalation injuries, the hospital said.
The fire service said the blaze damaged about 30 square metres (320 square feet) of their home, but it was eventually contained and no one else was harmed.
The boy’s father, Mr Guo, revealed that their four-year-old is usually cared for by his wife; however, she was busy on the day, so he asked his uncle to help babysit.
Mr Guo said: “My uncle said the entire home was filled with smoke after the fire started. He was choking and felt dizzy. He could barely see where he was going.”
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
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