A quick-thinking man caught a baby thrown from the “ninth or the tenth floor” window of a building by a desperate woman after a huge fire engulfed the 24-storey residential tower block here.

Samira Lamrani, a witness, was quoted by The Telegraph as saying she saw a woman try to save a baby by dropping it from a window “on the ninth or 10th floor” to waiting members of the public below.

“A gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby,” she said.

“I could see people from all angles, banging and screaming for help. Us members of the public were reassuring them, telling them we’ve done what we can and that we’ve phoned 999, but obviously the look on their face was death,” Lamrani said.

“The more I looked up, floor upon floor. Endless numbers of people. Mainly the kids, because obviously their voices, with their high pitched voices —— that will remain with me for a long time. I could hear them screaming for their lives,” she said.