A boy has been hailed a hero after helping a family escape a house fire in Ajman last week.
Emirati Ibraheem Makhzoom, 14, smelled smoke from his Al Jurf 2 area home at around 10am last Thursday and ran outside to try find the source. He knocked on the doors of his neighbours, eventually finding the house where the smoke was coming from.
The family's housemaid answered the door but was not able to understand him. The private school pupil took a phone from her hand and called civil defence. He then ran into the villa and knocked on the room doors to alert the family.
Ibraheem helped a man, his wife and four daughters, aged between 14 and 23, to evacuate the burning house before he and the owner of the house began carrying out valuables.
He manually opened the electronic gate to the family’s home to let firefighters through.
Seven people were in the house when the fire broke out, and none were injured thanks to Ibraheem’s efforts, authorities said on Monday.
Even the family’s pet turtle, Rambo, was saved from the fire.
Investigations are under way into the cause of the blaze, which destroyed the kitchen.
"What Ibraheem did was courageous and this is the result of various awareness programmes and campaigns targeting pupils of public and private schools in the emirate," said Brig Abdul-Aziz Al Shamsi, Ajman Civil defence director general.
A ceremony to honour Ibraheem's efforts was held at his school.
