A young girl was left dangling for at least nine minutes from a window ledge in Ilford before she was saved by a “complete stranger”.
The three-year-old was seen by shocked onlookers clinging to a window on a flat above a pawnbroker’s on Ilford High Road, east London, on Tuesday afternoon, June 9.
Footage posted on social media showed bystanders screaming, “Hurry up,” as a woman appears from a window below, calling and reaching out to her.
The girl desperately tries to pull herself up as a police officer on a ledge below appears, looking helplessly at the girl.
A topless man joined the pair to rescue the girl just as her grip began to fail, as a passerby can be seen below carrying a step ladder.
The man and officer position themselves directly below the girl as she falls.
Thankfully, the unidentified man caught her, with the officer steadying them both as he wobbled and onlookers cheered and clapped below.
“Well done!” one shouted.
“The baby got saved, my God,” another added.
The man and child embrace before he hands her to the woman through the window below.
The officer thanks the man for saving the child, according to the video.
The girl’s father described the policeman and the second man who caught her as “amazing heroes”.
He told Metro that his daughter was fine and would be going to school following the ordeal.
He said that the man who helped the officer in the rescue was a “complete stranger” to them.
He said: “They were both amazing. They were heroes. We are so relieved. They saved our child.
“She is fine thanks to them. We are very grateful. She will be going to school again today [and] we would like to say thanks to those people.”
The relieved dad didn’t reveal how his daughter came to be on the ledge but, asked how she managed to hang on for nine minutes, he added: “She’s very strong.”
The Met Police said officers arrived at the scene just after 3.20pm,
The force added: “Officers were called to Ilford High Road at 3.23pm on Tuesday following concerns for the safety of a child climbing onto a window ledge.
“The girl was brought to safety by 3.32pm by an attending officer and member of the public.
“They did not receive any injuries.”