Neighbours catch children in sheet as mother throws them from blazing flat

A mother trapped by a fire in her flat was forced to drop her two children 20ft from a second-floor window. Her neighbours used a bed sheet and mattress to catch the children - a two-day-old baby and two-year-old toddler - who were unharmed. The 27-year-old mother was at the window with hot smoke billowing over her and was about to jump when firefighters arrived at the scene in Sydney. She was rescued by fire crews using a ladder and taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and cuts.

She just dropped it. I knew I just had to catch the baby and it landed it my arms. I wasn’t expecting her to do it

Neighbour Arshad Mehmood

The blaze started in the kitchen of the second-storey flat on Thursday evening and quickly spread through the building. Neighbour Arshad Mehmood said he was in his flat when he heard someone yelling for help. When he went outside he could see smoke and the woman near the window of her flat holding the infant. He said: "She was holding the baby saying ‘please help, help, help’.“ Mr Mehmood and his neighbours got a bedsheet to catch the children as they were thrown from 20ft up. They also placed several mattresses underneath to ensure they had a soft landing.

She was very scared, she only came back from the hospital from having her baby yesterday, the baby is two days old

Neighbour Dalila Awachi

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