Egypt: Mother jumps to death after 2 daughters fall from 5th floor

Dubai: A 35-year-old Egyptian mother jumped from the balcony of a fifth-floor apartment hoping to save her daughters in the 15 May City in Helwan, south of Cairo.

According to local media, the tragedy that happened on Friday morning claimed the lives of the mother and her two daughters.

According to reports, the 7-year-old girl, Malak Ahmed, who was carrying her 11-month-old sister, Mai, lost balance while playing with her little sibling. The infant then slipped from the hands of her sister who also fell while trying to save her. The panicked mother just did what she instinctively thought to do -- go after them.

Local media quoted Mohammed Saleh, a witness, who said the accident occurred during Friday prayers, where the older girl was carrying her sister and playing with her in the balcony. “She lost her balance and the baby fell from her arms. She jumped behind her, thinking that she could save her, and when the mother saw, she also jumped behind her and the three died.”

Saleh explained that when they left the Friday prayers, the mother was still alive, muttering, “My children…my children fell. I tried to save them,” before she died. He added that the children's father was left in a state of shock when he came out of Friday prayers, and began to say, “There is no power or strength except in God. We belong to God and to Him we shall return.”