Almaty fire rescue: Thai woman throws child from fifth floor of burning flat (video)

Photo courtesy of KhaoSod.

A heart-stopping moment was captured in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan when a woman decided to throw her child out of a window from the fifth floor of a residential building engulfed in flames. Bystanders, ready with mattresses, managed to catch the child and later the woman as well, when they both escaped from the relentless fire.

Local media reported the incident last night. A video clip captured the terrifying scene of a 16-storey apartment house enveloped in black smoke gushing out of a flat on the fifth floor. It also showed the distressed woman clutching a youngster standing dangerously on the brink of a window. Amidst the tumult, people quickly spread out a mattress below the window in anticipation of the woman dropping the young child down. Amidst horrified screams, the swift rescue operation was successful as emergency services personnel stationed near the scene swiftly picked up the child in an ambulance.

Not long after the first breath-stopping event, gasps erupted again when the woman climbed onto the window ledge herself. Once again, the mattress was quickly positioned to cushion her harsh descent, with a rather loud thud marking her fall. Miraculously, she survived the dangerous fall as well.

The Almaty Health Department disclosed that 31 people were hospitalised from the incident, of whom 16 were children. Thankfully, no fatalities have been reported so far in the Almaty fire. Emergency services reported that the fire erupted in the lift shaft between the fifth and sixth floors, spreading rapidly to the dwellings. The firefighting unit took approximately an hour and a half to extinguish the blaze. Over 250 individuals managed to evacuate the building safely reported KhaoSod.

The video capturing the incredible Almaty fire rescue showed the young child being dangled by a woman out the window as black plumes of smoke billowed out of their flat. A sea of people below is seen running across the lawn with a mattress in hand, ready to catch the child as he is eventually launched by the woman.


Luckily, the child appears to land on the mattress and the adult then leans out the window to jump herself, again landing on the mattress.

According to rus.azattyq.org, on August 1, at 5.10pm, the forces of the Department of Emergency were sent to the Alatau district. Upon arrival, six minutes later, an apartment on the fifth floor of a 16-storey residential building was found to be burning with an open flame, resulting in the disastrous Almaty fire incident.

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Nattapong Westwood

Nattapong Westwood is a Bangkok-born writer who is half Thai and half Aussie. He studied in an international school in Bangkok and then pursued journalism studies in Melbourne. Nattapong began his career as a freelance writer before joining Thaiger. His passion for news writing fuels his dedication to the craft, as he consistently strives to deliver engaging content to his audience.