‘I thought of God and, one by one, I threw down my children’
Namanathan Ramaraj, the father who tossed his three children out of the burning building and directed his wife to safety, explained how he faced the horrifying moments when his family faced death in the raging fire.
“We were saved because the people of the area were able to safely catch my three children, who I threw out of the building, and also my wife,” he said.
He said it had been agonising to throw his chil- dren out of the third- storey window. “Two of my elder children, aged eight and six years, were clinging to my hands and screaming not to drop them,” he said.
“I had to do it: there was no other way. I thought of God and, one by one, I threw down my children including the youngest, who was only three-and-a-half years old,” Mr. Ramaraj said.
He then climbed out of the thirdfloor window onto a metal pole sticking out of the floor below and instructed his wife to climb down to him.
“My wife lost her balance and fell as she stepped out of the window but I was able to catch her and then drop her down onto the bedsheet that was held spread out below us by the people. They rescued us,” Mr. Ramaraj said.