An Asda delivery man saved a newborn baby from burning after he saw a house on fire and decided to help.
Habeel Khan was performing the delivery tasks as per his normal routine when he noticed thick smoke billows rising from a burning house in Stapleford, Nottingham.
As soon as he stopped there, he saw a woman shouting for help to save her seven-week-old baby stuck inside the house. It was when he entered the property and braved the fierce flames to rescue the baby inside.
Even though Habeel was appreciated around the world for what he did, the 26-year-old is truly modest about his act.
“It was just a normal day at work for me,” Habeel said.
“I was doing my deliveries in the Stapleford area and when I pulled up and looked over to where the customer’s house was I saw loads of smoke just gushing out of a house,” he recalled.
“My natural instinct was to just run across to the house. I could see loads of smoke and lots of people panicking outside.
“I shouted ‘is everyone out of the house?’ and that’s when a woman with two young children shouted ‘my baby; my baby’s still in the house.’
“I don’t think she had realized until then and then she ran back into the house and I went with her.
“She managed to pick up the baby from a room next to the kitchen where the fire had started, then we ran out.”
After rescuing the child, Habeel remained there to support the family and left only after the paramedical staff and firefighters had arrived.
In view of his heroic act, Habeel was awarded the Colleagues’ Colleague of the Year award in the 2019 Being Asda awards.
“I didn’t really think anything of it – I just thought I’d helped out, and had done a little good deed,” he said.
“I don’t think I have done anything heroic at all to be honest. Thankfully everyone was okay in the end and the family are back in the house.”
While Habeel downplays his brave gesture, his co-workers at Asda see him as a hero. “Habeel doesn’t think he is a hero, but we certainly do – he’s amazing!” fellow worker Claire Wilkes said.
“Habeel’s just great and everyone loves him here. He’s just our Habeel, our hero,” Bernie Drummond added.
Senior Vice President Retail Operations at Asda, Anthony Hemmerdinger, said: “What Habeel did was remarkable and it’s not something we would recommend that our colleagues do, however it’s clear that in this instance his instinct kicked in and he did a remarkable job.”
Manager Peter Smith added: “We know him as Smiler. He is always happy. He is always doing the right thing by the customer. He is an absolute asset to the team and a credit to the company.”
Replaced!