Heroic account of how 14-year old saved mother and child from burning building

A 14-year-old boy has been praised for quickly rescuing a mother and her child from a burning house in Taifa.

According to the ‘heroic’ rescuer, he was watching over his mother’s hairdressing salon when he heard cries for help and therefore sprang into action.

The teenager, identified as Henry Laryea Adjei and a student of Taifa St. Dominic, said that though he was scared, he was willing to sacrifice his life for the victims to live.

Narrating the sequence of events on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofo Morning Show on Wednesday, August 10, Henry said “the child was crying and the mother too was screaming and calling my name for help when I entered the house.

"I assured her to stop crying because I can save them. I felt the heat in the room and so I removed a blockade by the door to create space at the entrance.”

He explained that prior to entering the burning building, he submerged himself in a barrel of water at the salon which was adjacent the house on fire. He also took his sleeping cloth which he dipped into the water and used as a protective shield.

“Once I was wet, I covered the little boy with the wet cloth and I pushed their wardrobe onto the bed and passed there out. The child was in their bedroom.”

The fire reportedly started burning from the hall though the actual cause is unknown.

When asked how he learned to save people from fires, he responded that “I’ve been watching [such rescue scenes in movies] on TV [however,] I have never practiced it before. I just did it.”

Attributing his successful mission to divine orchestration, he declared that “it was by God’s grace… I was even scared for my life but the people there are my family because we were all born there.”

“When the fire service arrived the fire spread to our shop and I realised that the meter had caught fire. I quickly took their hose to douse the meter to stop it from burning further; an action which won me the applause of the Fire Service team”, he added.

When asked if he was not hurt in the process, he replied that aside from slipping and falling on the tiled-kitchen floor, he escaped danger.

He further disclosed that “I really want to be a soldier in the future. However if I don’t get to be in the army, I want to join the Fire Service. I even told them when officers of the GNFS came that when I complete school they should recruit me.”

Meanwhile, his mother, Linda Adjei, has said the actions of her son is “something which beats my imagination and understanding. What would have been my story if I lost him in the process?”