| |
 Print
Muslim Driver Saves Family from Fire
9-10-2014
A British Muslim taxi driver has risked his life to rescue a Belgian family of six from fire as others stood by to film the desperate family screaming for help from their windows.
“There was screaming, and a baby probably three or four months old. Some people were just recording it,” “Ronnie” Rahman, 29, told Tottenham and Wood Green.
“I don’t know what to say. I was really shocked that everybody was recording instead of helping. It makes me realise how stupid we are becoming.
“I have a nephew and I that’s why I was like worrying; what if it happens in my house?”
Rahman was sitting in his taxi when he heard screams and shouts from the ground floor hallway of the flats above Fredericks kitchen store in Tottenham’s Wood Green High Road.
Jumping to see what was happening, he was shocked to see a baby, a child and four adults screaming while passersby stood by to film the horrific scene on their mobile phones.
The Muslim driver called the police with one hand and tried to get a ladder to recuse the family with the other hand.
“I called the police to let them know what was going on; one hand I’m on the phone and one hand I’m trying to get the ladder out of the shop,” he said.
“The people were up on the first and second floor. they had the windows wide open and were screaming. They were crying and showing us the baby. Everyone was helpless.
“There was another gentleman and I was preparing the ladder and he said, ‘I will go up’. One of the ladies went out of the window and tried to pass the baby down. The other child was five or six years old.
“By the time the fire brigade came most of the people were out of the building down the ladder.”
Quick Helper
Thanks to his swift action, all the children and adults were rescued without any injury.
“One of the [firemen] came up and asked who came up on the ladder. He said, ‘Well done, thank you’,” Rahman, who lives in Bush Hill Park in Enfield, said.
“The fire rapidly escalated in a matter of minutes. I’m a law-abiding citizen but sometimes you’ve got to break the law to save someone.
“It was my next door neighbor, so I had to do something.”
Britain is home to a Muslim community of nearly 2.7 million.
In 2011, think tank Demo found that Muslims in the United Kingdom are more patriotic than the rest of population.
Responding to the statement “I am proud to be a British citizen”, 83% of Muslims said they are proud of being British.
Footnotes:
|