The young family, including two toddlers, were faced with no other option than to leap from the towering inferno.

The tense video, shot in Russia, shows the dramatic moment about twenty bystanders gather below the building to try and catch the falling escapees.

Both of the toddlers were thrown from the fire by their parents while the crowd below hold a blanket to try and cushion their falls.

The toddler, known as Zhenyu, an 11-month-old child who suffers from a heart disease, was the first to be thrown from the building in the town of Strunino, north of the capital Moscow.