Mom and baby were caught in 'gigantic' building explosion with no route to escape — mom's brave decision saved their life
A split-second decision can be life-changing for a person. A mom experienced that when she was caught in a building explosion with no way to escape. She was stuck in her third-floor apartment along with her baby and her house was surrounded by fire. At that time, neighbors from the building next to them and strangers gathered below their house to help her. She made one quick call that saved her and her child, per 19 News.
The explosion happened at Rainbow Terrace Apartments in the Garden Valley Neighborhood in Cleveland. The baby's rescue was caught on camera as the mom threw the kid from the third-floor window and strangers had gathered there to save the child. As her apartment was surrounded by fire, the mom leaned out of the window as far as she could and threw her baby to the waiting strangers, who managed to catch the kid safely. Reginald Barnes, one of the woman's neighbors, explained that he had heard certain sounds before an explosion happened. "It literally blew up and I flipped." Barnes was in the parking lot of the building during the explosion. When he knew he was fine, he ran out to see if anyone else needed help.
He saw that there was a woman standing by the window with her baby. "I am like, drop the baby, let it go," Barnes recounted. He reassured the mother that he would catch the baby. All the people there got ready to ensure that the baby didn't fall or get injured after that. "I was thanking god that the baby got saved and that lady, too." Both the mom and baby could get out of their apartment safe and sound. Unfortunately, many people in the building didn't have a home anymore because of the fire. Most of their belongings were lost after the explosion. "This is really sad. It is a tragedy to lose everything," Barnes pointed out.
Many organizations came in to support the people and to get enough donations for them to get by. Barnes was glad that they were getting all the help during a tough time. The fire department explained that the cause of the explosion was still under investigation. Five people were sent to the hospital because of injuries. People appreciated the mom's quick thinking and the efforts from the neighbors in the comments section of the video. @Angela-BlessedofGod wrote, "God bless that man and those others for being there that day and rescuing that baby. I’m so glad the baby and mama are both safe. God had Reggie and those others there at the right time just for that."
@betsykeller9096 commented, "Let's just take a moment to recognize that Mom for an excellent toss! Perfect throw. Good split-second decision making. Sometimes people panic and time ends up creating a worse victim. This Mom did everything wonderfully! The people next to a building that exploded, making sure that the baby and Mom were safe, also were wonderful and didn't even think twice about the danger they may be in! Kudos all around!" @brittanyfoster4592 remarked, "I hope that everybody is okay from their injury and I hope that they will make a full recovery soon."