Culture

Watch In Awe As This Real-Life Spiderman Scales A Building To Save A Small Child

How does he get there so fast?

by Sam Langford  28 May 2018
mamoudou gassama

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We’d all like to think we would spring into action to save a child in danger, but in France over the weekend one guy quite literally went above and beyond.

Mamoudou Gassama, 22, was passing an apartment building just as an emergency was unfolding, with a child dangling from a balcony. In just 30 seconds, Gassama scaled four stories of the building, pulling himself from balcony to balcony until he reached the child and lifted him to safety.

There’s video of it too, and it’s absolutely extraordinary. Unsurprisingly, people have started to call Gassama France’s Spiderman.

“I did it because it was a child,” Gassama told Le Parisien newspaper, adding, “thank God I saved him”.

He told reporters that once the adrenaline wore off, he was terrified at what he’d done. “I felt afraid when I saved the child … [when] we went into the living room, I started to shake, I could hardly stand up, I had to sit down,” he said.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has called to thank Gassama for his bravery, and French President Emmanuel Macron has invited him to the Elysee Palace today for a personal thank you. Hidalgo tweeted that Gassama told her he’s a recent immigrant from Mali, and had always dreamed of building his life in France — she replied that he was an inspiration, and that Paris would be keen to support his efforts to settle there.

The four-year-old saved by Gassama is okay, and police are questioning his father as to why the child was left home alone.

Meanwhile, the internet is just in awe of this Gassama’s quick thinking and bravery.