A MAN who leaped for his life from the third storey window of a burning building today spoke for the first time of his amazing escape.

Shakir Patel, 21, needed just five staples in a head wound and treatment for smoke inhalation after plunging from his blazing home earlier this week.

And after being released from Blackburn Royal Infirmary he praised the crowd of people who cushioned his fall.

Two workmen fromthe Great Harwood based DJ Ryan company were hailed as life savers by police after calling on the crowd to "catch" Shakir as he fell.

Shakir opened the door of his bedroom in the family living quarters above the Meena bakery in Regent Street, Blackburn, on Monday afternoon to be confronted by a wall of flame and smoke.

He said: "My mum was downstairs in the bakery and was already using the phone to speak to a relative when I picked up an extension to call the fire brigade. "It took me some time to explain that the fire was actually above the bakery. My relation thought I meant her house.

"After ringing the fire brigade I was going to make a run for it but there was too much smoke and I was beaten back."

Shakir returned to his mother's room and shouted out of the window to passers-by who told him to break it.

He added: "I kicked the window out and climbed through.

"Half of the crowd was telling me to jump and half was telling me to stay put.

"They were standing about seven metres from the wall below me. I decided to hang on by my finger tips.

"But it was getting really hot and my ear was burning so I had to let go."

Shakir does not remember landing on the crowd of people nor bouncing on to the floor. He regained consciousness just as he was about to be loaded into the ambulance. He and his family are now staying with relatives while the council find them a house to live in.

A fire brigade spokesman today said the cause of the fire was still being investigated.

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