Mamoudou Gassama was hailed a hero for single-handedly scaling the facade of an apartment block and hauling the 4-year-old to safety.
Mamoudou Gassama was hailed a hero for single-handedly scaling the facade of an apartment block and hauling the 4-year-old to safety.
A Malian immigrant dubbed Spiderman for scaling four storeys to save a child dangling from a balcony has been invited to the Elysee Palace by President Emmanuel Macron.
Mamoudou Gassama, 22, was hailed a hero for single-handedly scaling the facade of an apartment block in the capital's 18th arrondissement, and hauling the 4-year-old to safety.
The dramatic rescue, which saw Gassama clamber from balcony to balcony and reaching the child in less than 30 seconds, was captured on video and widely shared on social media. He has since been compared to the Marvel superhero Spiderman.
Tracked down by reporters 24 hours after the heroic rescue, Gassama said he had acted without thinking, the Daily Mail reports.
"I saw all these people shouting, and cars sounding their horns. I climbed up like that and, thank God, I saved the child," he said.
"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 added.
Mamoudou Gassama arrived in France a few months ago "dreaming of building his life" there.
Gassama, who said he arrived in France a few months ago "dreaming of building his life" in the country, has been invited to meet French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace today. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has vowed to help him settle in France.
Without a thought for his own safety, Gassama took just seconds to reach the child in a spectacular rescue captured on film and viewed millions of times on social networks.
The incident took place at around 8pm on Saturday in northern Paris.
Film of the rescue shows Gassama pulling himself up from balcony to balcony with his bare hands as a man on the fourth floor tries to hold on to the child by leaning across from a neighbouring balcony.
On reaching the fourth floor Gassama puts one leg over the balcony before reaching out with his right arm and grabbing the child. Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the child had already been rescued.
One witness told Le Parisien: "There is a fence and a gap between them... The neighbour could not afford to lean back to get the child himself."
Mamoudou Gassama was hailed a hero for single-handedly scaling the facade of an apartment block and hauling the 4-year-old to safety.
The only injury sustained by the child was a torn nail. Gassama suffered a few scratches. An investigation into the incident is now under way.
"Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child," a fire service spokesman told AFP.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo praised the young migrant on Twitter for his "act of bravery" as well as phoning him personally to "thank him warmly".
"He explained to me that he had arrived from Mali a few months ago dreaming of building his life here.
"I told him that his heroic act is an example to all citizens and that the city of Paris will obviously be very keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France," she added.
The young Malian will next be honoured for his brave rescue by French President Emmanuel Macron who has invited him to the Elysee Palace.
According to initial inquiries by the authorities, the child's parents were not at home at the time.
The father was later held for questioning by police for having left his child unattended and was due in court later, a judicial source said. The child's mother was not in Paris at the time.
