Couple leaps to their death with baby son in desperate bid to escape apartment inferno in front of horrified onlookers
A COUPLE jumped to their deaths while clutching their baby son in a desperate attempt to escape their burning flat.
The pair jumped from their seventh-floor flat in Brazil while holding their two-month-old son in front of horrified onlookers.
Luiz Evaldo Lima, Graciane Rosa de Oliveira, and baby Léo Oliveira de Lima died on Tuesday.
Felipe Ferreira, who lives in the neighbouring building, said: “We saw a couple with a child at the seventh-floor window.
“We started shouting for them not to jump, but the flames quickly engulfed them.
“In the end, they jumped and died instantly.”
An investigation has been launched to find out what sparked the blaze at the block of flats in Valparaíso de Goiás.
Capt Fábio José Rodrigues from the Goiás Fire Department told local media: “They died out of desperation.”
A witness said the flames spread “very quickly and violently”.
Another fire brigade official, Maurício Correia, said: “It could have been something that exploded and affected the gas pipes.”
Graciane, 35, was an eyelash technician and Luiz, 28, was a waiter, as reported by NeedToKnow.
The couple first met in 2019 at the wholesaler where Luiz worked at the time.
Two other people were rescued from the couple’s flat on Tuesday morning including Graciane’s mother.
Graciane also had a seven-year-old daughter, who was at school when the fire ripped through the building.
She is now with her grandparents.
The fire brigade evacuated residents from the block and 15 people were taken to local hospitals with smoke inhalation symptoms.