Mother Throws 4 Children to Safety During Brooklyn House Fire

Mother of five Nabila Nazli was able to throw four of her children to safety during a vicious apartment fire. Nazli did not jump, as she stayed with a five year old daughter who had been scared to jump stayed on the second floor, and the two were overcome with smoke. Nazli and her daughter are in serious condition at Jacobi Medical Center, whereas the four other children, ages one month to 10 years old, are in stable condition at at Coney Island Hospital.

The fire started early Thursday morning in the Gravesend section. Neighbors tried to break in the house to save Nazli and the five children, but it was too difficult. They convinced Nazli to drop the children out a window and onto a blanket. By the time the firefighters got to the house, about half an hour after it started, they found Nazli and her daughter unconscious. Firefighter Bob Treiland told the NY Times, "She did a great job in saving her children... I guess I know where she is coming from [adding that he has two small children]. She would rather die than leave her child up there, and it is just something about a parent’s instincts.”

Nazli's husband, Mohammed Nasser, a limousine driver, told the Sun in spite of the fire that gutted their home of two months, "Nothing is lost because my family survived."