Man risks life to rescue toddler hanging from 8th floor, gets medal for bravery

A man in Kazakhstan risked his own life to save a toddler from falling off the window of an eighth-floor apartment. The man is being hailed as a "hero" after a video of the daring act went viral on social media.

The three-year-old baby had somehow managed to climb out of the window while her mother had gone shopping. The toddler had used cushions and toys to climb out of the window of her home in Nur-Sultan.

The man, identified as 37-year-old Sabit Shontakbaev, was reportedly on his way to work when he heard a commotion and saw the baby dangling from the window ledge, holding on to her dear life.

The man immediately rushed into the building and asked the people living on the seventh floor to let him in. A video of the heroic feat shows the man climbing out of the window without any harness and trying to reach out to the baby.

He holds onto the facade of the building as he tugs on her leg, the girl then lets go of her grip. Sabit then grabs her and lowers her into the apartment window into someone's waiting hands.

Kazakhstan's ministry of emergency situations has named the man a hero and awarded him a medal for saving the toddler's life, according to a report in The Independent.

The country's Department of Emergency Situations said in a Twitter post that Shontakbaev's friend, Sabit Sagi, had also helped in the rescue. Sagi was the one who had held his friend's leg from inside the apartment.

"No one was with the girl, born in 2019. Fortunately, our hero Shontakbaev Sabit, born in 1985, seeing the hanging, crying child, without hesitation and risking his own life, took emergency action and literally caught and saved the little girl's life in a matter of seconds," the ministry said.

The ministry also advised parents against leaving their children alone unsupervised. "Never leave children unsupervised by adults! Do not leave windows open if there is a small child at home, because you could be distracted for a second, and this could end your child's life or disable them forever," it added.