Something pushed him to stand beneath the window.

In the crowd of people staring at the burning building was a 57-year-old Asian welder who ran to the right spot without skipping a beat, stretched out his arms, and caught a three-year-old boy whose mother had thrown out of their second-floor flat.

Bangladeshi national Farouq Islam Nour Al Haq was honoured by the Ajman Civil Defence on Tuesday for saving the boy's life.

"Something in my mind pushed me to stand beneath the window where the woman was screaming. There was a massive crowd of people watching her but no one thought of rescuing her. Something pushed me to do anything to save this woman and her child," Farouq told Khaleej Times.

He was on his way to meet a friend who worked at a grocery store beside the building when he heard the woman's desperate call for help in Hindi. He looked up and saw the mother holding his child, standing by a big window.

"I looked at her and she looked at me. I opened my arms and then she released the child who landed in my arms safely. I was shocked and I could not believe that the child had been saved until I heard the applause of the crowd chanting 'thank God' and clapping," he said.

"I felt relieved and grateful. It's like I have done something right in my life."

When a massive fire engulfed the three-storey apartment building in Nuaimiah on Saturday night, thick, black smoke filled the flat in no time. The mother couldn't find a way out - except through the window.

She was worried about their son who already had started to suffocate, said her husband Mohammed Saqib, who was at work when the incident happened and got a frantic call from his wife.

"My wife Rubeena said she couldn't go through the doors and she would not survive the heavy smoke. I told her to relax and think of a way to save herself and the child," he said.

After making sure her child was safe in the arms of a man, Rubeena jumped out of the window and landed on a car parked near the building. She sustained serious injuries and she is currently being treated at the intensive care unit of the Khalifa Hospital.

"I left everything in my hand and ran towards my car to get home as quick as possible," Mohammed said.

"When I reached our place, my wife was already in the hospital and my son was with people. I felt relieved when I saw that my son was saved. The people told me about the man who saved my son. I thank God and thank him for the great deed that he had done to the family."

The fire was found to have been caused by electric short circuits in the machines located in the corridor, which led to the rapid spread of thick smoke across the building. A woman and a man were forced to jump out of their windows to escape suffocation. Both of them sustained serious injuries.

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com