Young people climbed a burning building on Sunday in Nantes – K. Zekkar / Facebook
- A violent apartment fire broke out on Sunday afternoon at La Bottière in Nantes.
- Several young people mobilized to evacuate residents, including a couple and their 6-month-old baby.
Two days after the incident, she is still in the grip of emotion. Kenza Zekkar, a resident of the Bottière district in Nantes, is slowly recovering from the scene she filmed on Sunday afternoon, a sequence widely shared since on social networks. In his images, we see several young people climbing the facade of a burning building. Thanks to the human chain they have formed, they manage to bring down a woman, whose apartment, located on the 2nd floor, is burning.
According to several witnesses, two other people were saved before the arrival of the firefighters, and in particular a 6-month-old baby. “We wanted to take the stairs to look for them but there was too much smoke,” says Abdel, Kenza’s husband, who works in the field of fire safety. I first asked for the electricity meter to be turned off, then some young people went to look for mattresses. The father was holding his baby, then he threw it in… We didn’t think about it, we had to act. It was also necessary to reassure the neighbors, to prevent someone from jumping. “People were screaming,” reports Ismael, who also took part in the rescue. We split into two teams to go on both sides of the building. “
Rescue by young people from the # Bootie, a family and a baby during a #fire this afternoon at #Nantes
Congratulations to them© Video Credit Kenza Zekkar – https://t.co/V7zUsln2Lj@West France @presseocean @bleuloireocean @telenantesinfo pic.twitter.com/1pq1TIA06h
– Laurent Fournel (@FourneLaurentOf) March 28, 2021
“Honor and recognition”
In the end, nine people were injured, including the parents and the little girl, transported to the Nantes University Hospital in absolute urgency but out of the woods, according to the neighborhood. “Fortunately we were there, believes today Kenza, who chairs the association
Solidarity well-being Pays de la Loire. I am not looking for fame by saying this, but these young people, who have saved lives, must be honored for this beautiful act of humanism. I don’t understand why the firefighters, who were called five times, took so long to arrive and why the city hasn’t come back to us since… ”
A petition was launched to ask the public authorities for “Honor and recognition for the heroes of La Bottière”. Some 200 signatures were collected.