Kazakhstan: Man risks his life to rescue toddler dangling from 8th floor, gets rewarded

A viral video of a man saving a toddler by climbing out of the window has been doing rounds on the internet. The incident took place in Kazakhstan, where a man risked his own life to rescue the baby dangling from the eighth floor of the building. The incident was captured by passersby and has become a talking point since then.

In the video, the man could be seen climbing out of a window in a high-rise, sans a harness or helmet, to save the three-year-old girl. He was seen venturing out of the window, holding the girl on the above floor, then catching her as she left the balcony and then lowering her into the apartment below. 

Who saved the life of a toddler?

The heroic man, as per a report on Metro, identified as 37-year-old Sabit Shontakbaev, was on his way to work with a friend when he saw a crowd and heard a ruckus. As he realised what was happening, he quickly rushed into the building knocking at the door of an apartment on the seventh floor.  Sabit was quoted as saying, "I did not have a safety harness so my friend held my legs. At that moment I didn’t think about anything, I just wanted to help the child."

Moreover, the country’s Department of Emergency Situations took to social media and wrote that the first responders were alerted at around 10.21 AM that a child was dangling from a window of a building. A social media post by the ministry read, “Nur-Sultan DES units consisting of 7 personnel and 2 units of equipment were sent to the scene. Upon arrival, it was discovered that a man rescued a child hanging from the cornice of the balcony on the eighth floor". 

Soon after the act of the man's bravery went viral, the First Vice Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Major General Kulshimbayev Ibragim Batyr, awarded Shontakbayev with the medal “For Courage in Emergency Situations”. Also, the rescuers cautioned parents not to leave their children alone at home to avoid such situations.

Image: Instagram/@tjm_mchs