Three maintenance workers were hailed as heroes after they climbed to a second-storey window to save a woman and her baby daughter from a house fire that had them trapped against the anti-theft bars.
Distressing footage shows the desperate mum clutching the baby in her arms while squeezed into the corner of the security bars of the burning home in Foshan, in China’s southern Guangdong Province, on the morning of 10th November.
It is unclear how long they had been trapped there before workers Zhang Huaming, Tan Zhifei, and Zhang Huamin spotted the danger and rushed to help.
Witnesses filmed the moment they climbed up to the second floor and cut through the metal bars, freeing the woman and helping her down.
Meanwhile, firefighters doused the home through the open window to prevent the fire from spreading and to give the victim and her child time to escape.
With the help of another firefighter, the mother and daughter and their rescuers were able to safely climb down a ladder.
The two are reported to be in stable condition and without any life-threatening injuries.
The fire was reportedly extinguished by noon, and there were no casualties at the scene.
One of the rescuers, 34-year-old Huaming, said Huamin is his younger brother, and Tan is his elder brother-in-law.
The three of them have been engaged in air conditioning maintenance and dismantling work for many years and are already accustomed to working at heights.
Their air conditioning repair shop is located very close to the incident site.
Upon discovering the fire, they quickly grabbed safety ropes, harnesses, angle grinders, and pliers and rushed to the scene.
He told local media: “We saw the firefighters coming, so we wanted to go help save them together.
“We didn’t think about whether we were scared or not. We just wanted to save both the adult and the child, and as long as everyone was okay, that was enough.”
A neighbour named Lun Qingji, who witnessed the incident, said: “I couldn’t help but shed tears when I saw people being rescued! The actions of everyone helping with the rescue are commendable.”
