VIDEO: Mother forced to throw child off burning building in South Africa unrest
- 15 Jul 2021
A videograb shows the baby being thrown into the crowd.
Gulf Today Report
In South Africa, in a desperate attempt to save her child, the mother had to throw the baby from a burning building onto a group of people on the street.
The incident took place in Durban, where violence marred normal life after former president Jacob Zuma was jailed last week.
The image of the baby being thrown off the building caused great sadness on media.
The residents in Durban woke up to violence and businesses being ransacked.
In one incident, a residential unit was set on fire. Residents at the building were seen running for their lives.
It was at this moment that the mother was forced to throw her child from the building in a desperate attempt to save its life, several media reported.
The video shows the desperate mother finding no other way to save the life of her young child from the building but to throw it into the crowd standing at the bottom of the building to help the people stuck inside.
Neighbours who grabbed the child immediately rushed to get a ladder to help the others escape, before firefighters arrived to put out the fire.
The media reported that the mother met her child, but she was so shocked by the situation that she could not speak.
The image and video of the child were widely shared on social media and major news outlets ran reports on the incident.
More than 70 people have been killed and over 1,200 arrested during the violence in South Africa since Zuma was imprisoned last week after he refused to comply with a court order to testify in an investigation into allegations of corruption, while he was president from 2009 to 2018.
