A Malian immigrant has become a national hero in France after his heroism saved the life of a child, who was about to fall from the fourth floor of a building in Paris.
Mamoudou Gassama, in his early 20s, was walking past a street in Paris when he saw dozens of terrified onlookers helplessly watching a child fall off the fourth floor of a building. The Malian immigrant decided to do unthinkable and began to climb the building without the support of any equipment. Within seconds, he was on the fourth floor and had saved the life of the child in distress.
The video of Mamoudou Gassama, now being termed as a spider-man, has now gone viral on social media platforms.
“I did it because it was a child,” the paper quoted him saying. “I climbed… Thank God I saved him,” he was quoted by Le Parisien newspaper. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo too showered praises on his for his act of bravery adding that the city will helps his efforts to settle in France.
Hidalgo tweeted from her official Twitter account, “Congratulations to Mamoudou Gassama for his act of bravery that saved the life of a child.” She also said that she had spoken to Gassama on the phone to personally thank him.
Un grand bravo à Mamoudou Gassama pour son acte de bravoure qui a permis de sauver hier soir la vie d’un enfant. J’ai eu plaisir à m’entretenir avec lui aujourd’hui par téléphone, afin de le remercier chaleureusement. https://t.co/DP5vQ1VZYh
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) May 27, 2018
Gassama was also invited as a special guest by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning. Former minister and a government spokesperson Christophe Castaner tweeted saying that he had met Gassama and his government was working hard to ‘regularise’ his residential status in France.
His tweet said, “With Mr. GASSAMA who saved Saturday the life of a child climbing 4 floors with bare hands. I announced to him that in recognition of this heroic act, he would be regularized as soon as possible, and that the fire brigade in Paris was ready to have accept him in their team.”
Avec M. GASSAMA qui a sauvé samedi la vie d’un enfant en escaladant 4 étages à mains nues. Je lui ai annoncé qu’en reconnaissance de cet acte héroïque il allait être régularisé dans les plus brefs délais, et que la brigade des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris était prête à l’accueillir. pic.twitter.com/xMpFlP1UFe
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 28, 2018