This is the heart-stopping moment a father looks to the sky and prays his family survive before they leaping from a burning building in Russia.

A fire had broke out in their apartment in the five-storey block in the town of Strunino near Moscow, and the family were forced to flee.

A crowd of around 20 men gathered below the apartment building and urged the family to jump and they would catch them.

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A father appears on the balcony of his burning apartment after being forced to flee the engulfing flames

Before jumping down to the bystanders on the ground, the father crosses his chest and looks to the sky and prays

First to jump was the family's youngest child, a toddler named Zhenyu, who gripped her blanket before falling though the smoke.

After she landed safely a second older child followed, before footage captured the children's mother Elena launching herself from the balcony to the bystanders waiting below.

Then it was the turn of the father Vitaly to jump and he is seen steadying himself on the window's edge.

After saying a prayer, the father then launches himself off the side of the building to escape the flames

As he reaches the ground, a group of bystanders are on hand to catch him and break his fall

He then crosses his heart twice and looks to the sky and prays that he and his family will survive.

The father then bends down and jumps from the balcony and he is succesfully caught by the bystanders.

The clip then ends with the father being helped to his feet and smoke continues to pour from the flat.

It is still unknown what caused the fire and the father is still recovering in hospital from his injuries.

Earlier the family's mother Elena was also forced to jump from her burning apartment after her children

The mother is caught by the bystanders. It is still unknown what caused the fire and the family are recovering in hospital

The mother, Elena, told Russian news website Newinform: 'My husband realised that we were not locked out.

'Everything in the apartment was in the black smoke, and we strongly choked. And I have a child with heart disease who is 11 months old.