A 14-MONTH-OLD baby was dropped to safety from a burning house (above) after a suspected arson attack in the loyalist Rathcoole area of north Belfast yesterday morning,
Neighbours helped to save the baby and other family members who were in the house at the time. Eyewitnesses described the fire as an “inferno” and said the family was lucky to escape and, but for the quick action of neighbours, the outcome could have been horrific.
Neighbours rushed to the scene of the fire at Clonbeg Drive at about 4am. The baby had to be dropped to safety by its mother, while ladders were used to get the parents and another child out of the house.
The family suffered the effects of smoke inhalation.
A woman and two of her grandchildren in a neighbouring house were also brought to safety.
It is understood that the fire was started by fuel being poured through the letter box of the house and then set alight.
North Belfast DUP member Nelson McCausland, condemning the incident, said the arson attack could only be viewed as “attempted murder”.
