How a passerby became a life saviour
AJMAN — Bangladeshi welder Farouq Al Haq was on his way to his friend’s shop in Ajman when he heard a desperate plea for help. As he rushed towards a crowd of people staring at a burning building, he saw a woman holding her three-year-old child out of their second-floor window.
“I looked at her and she looked at me. I opened my arms and she released the child, who landed in my arms safely. I was shocked and could not believe that the child had been saved until I heard a big applause of the crowd chanting ‘thank God’,” Al Haq told Khaleej Times.
As thick smoke engulfed the apartment, the mother jumped, too, and landed on a car. She sustained serious injuries and has been hospitalised.
The Ajman Civil Defence honoured the welder on Tuesday for saving the child’s life. —
ajman — Among the crowd of people staring at the burning Ajman building was a 57-year-old Asian welder who ran to the right spot without skipping a beat, stretched out his arms, and caught the threeyear-old boy whom a mother had to throw out of their second-floor flat.
Bangladeshi national Farouq Islam Nour Al Haq was honoured by the Ajman Civil Defence on Tuesday for saving the boy’s life.
“Something inside me pushed me to stand underneath the window where the woman was screaming. There was a massive crowd of people watching her but no one thought of rescuing her. Something pushed me to do anything to save this woman and her child,” Farouq told Khaleej Times.
He was on his way to meet a friend who worked at the grocery store beside the building when he heard the woman’s desperate call for help, in Hindi. He looked up and saw the mother holding her child, standing by a big window.
“I looked at her and she looked at me. I opened my arms and then she released the child, who landed in my arms safely. I was shocked and could not believe that the child had been saved until I heard the big applause of the crowd chanting ‘thank God’,” he said.
“I felt relieved and grateful. It felt like I had done something right in my life.”
When a massive fire engulfed the three-storey apartment building in Al Nuaimiya on Saturday night, thick, black smoke filled the flat in no time and the mother couldn’t find any other way out — except through the window.
She was worried about the boy who had already started suffocating, said her husband Mohammed Saqib who was at work when the incident happened and got a frantic call from his wife.
“My wife Rubeena said she couldn’t go through the doors and she would not survive the heavy smoke. I told her to relax and think of a way to save herself and the child,” he said.
After making sure her child was safe in the arms of the welder, Rubeena jumped out of the window and landed on a car parked near the building. She sustained serious injuries and is currently being treated at the intensive care unit of the Khalifa Hospital.
“I left everything and ran towards my car to get home as quick as possible,” Mohammed Saqib said.
“When I reached our place, my wife was already in the hospital and my son was with people. I felt relieved when I saw that my son was saved. The people told me about the man who had saved my son. I thank God and thank him for the great deed that he had done for the family.”
The fire was found to have been caused by electric short circuits in the machines located in the corridor, which led to the rapid spread of thick smoke across the building. The woman and another tenant were forced to jump out of their windows to escape suffocation. Both of them sustained serious injuries.
I opened my arms and then she released the child who landed in my arms safely. It felt like I have done something right in my life.”
Farouq Islam Nour Al Haq, welder
I felt relieved when I saw that my son was saved. The people told me about the man who saved my son. I thank God and thank him for the great deed that he had done to the family.”
Mohammed Saqib, father of the boy