Girl caught by hero neighbour after she was thrown from the fifth floor by her desperate mother
Clutching the little girl to his chest and looking up at the inferno raging above, this is a Grenfell Tower hero seconds after he caught a four-year-old thrown from a window 50ft above. The shell-shocked child survived the fall from the fifth floor after her neighbour, named only as Pat, plucked her from the sky 'like a rugby ball'.
A witness said he then tucked her 'into his chest' and cuddled the little girl as they sheltered from falling debris under a tree. As the little girl closed her eyes her saviour is shown staring up at the fire above, which consumed the entire 27- storey west London t ower i n minutes on Wednesday morning.
Tragically the five-year-old's mother is feared to be among those who perished in the Grenfell Tower disaster, which is believed to have claimed more than 100 lives. The little girl was treated by paramedics at the scene and Pat was taken to hospital, according to the Mirror.
Resident Kadelia Woods, 20, said: ' The mum had the little girl's head wrapped in a towel and was holding her out of the window and was screaming for help. The fire was raging like crazy. It was about 2am and the flat was filled with smoke. Pat was calling: 'Drop her, I'll catch her'. The mum was screaming: 'No, no, I can't!' Pat kept reassuring her and then the girl dropped. Everyone's hearts stopped but Pat managed to catch her like a rugby ball tucked into his chest.'
Pat's catch is one of many acts of great heroism that have emerged in the after- math of the worst fire in Britain for decades.
A baby who was thrown from the burning building is also thought to have survived unharmed after being caught by an anonymous member of the public. Samira Lamrani, an eyewitness at the scene, said she witnessed a man run forward to catch the child after a woman on the ninth or 10th floor indicated she wanted to drop it out of harm's way. She said: ' A woman was gesturing like she was about to throw her baby, if somebody could catch her baby. And somebody did and a member of the public, a gentleman, ran forward and managed to grab the baby.' Ms Lamrani said she believed the child survived unharmed.
(© Daily Mail, London)
A neighbour who posted pictures on Facebook of a dead victim believed to have leapt to his death from the Grenfell Tower inferno has been jailed for three months. Omega Mwaikambo, 43, was hauled before the courts after posting the distressing picture of the body bag and then close ups of the male victim after opening it. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sending by a public communications network an offending, indecent or obscene matter. Mwaikambo, who lives yards away from the tower, had made cups of tea for firefighters as they battled the blaze. However later on Wednesday morning he saw a body bag outside his flat and took the photos and uploaded them to Facebook. After his arrest he provided the police with the pin to his phone and the images were taken down from the web. The court heard the victim has yet to be identified.
Michelle Denney for the defence said: 'He found the deceased person and was shocked by the fact the body was there and that the body was there unattended. He was not someone that has gone to the scene to look at what's going on in some macabre way.' She added her client had witnessed a lot of the terrible things throughout the night, it was an 'error in judgement' to post the images and 'would not have done so had he not witness some of the traumatic events that unfolded. 'He apologises to the victim's family any all the other victims for what he has done.' The District Judge said: 'The dignity of the dead must always be respected. What you have done by uploading those photos shows absolutely no respect to this poor victim. To show his face as he lies there is beyond words.'