Mali migrant 'Spiderman' saves Alzheimer's lady from deadly plunge

Samba Coulibaly, 44, who has lived in Spain for 11 years and works packing fruit and veg in a warehouse, says he has 'never climbed anything before in his life', but that he scaled the 10 metres (32'6”) to the pensioner's balcony 'by instinct' and without even thinking about it.

He had seen the woman, who is in her late 70s, trying to get out of the house via her window after discovering her front door was locked – she was dangling over the edge of the balcony.

Her distressed husband was trying hard to hold onto her and stop her falling, or jumping, but was gradually losing his grip on her as his strength sapped.

“There were lots of people down below shouting for help,” said Samba, who witnessed the terrifying scene in his home neighbourhood of Santiago El Mayor, in Murcia city.

“I just knew the fire brigade wouldn't get there in time and that she was going to fall, so I climbed up to help her.

“But if you asked me to climb up there again, I couldn't do it to order – I still have no idea how I did it.”

Samba has become a local hero in Santiago – but like most local heroes, he dismisses his brave action as something he felt he 'couldn't not' do.

And he has since been dubbed 'The Spiderman of Santiago'.

His story has points in common with Gorgui, 20, from Dénia (northern Alicante province), who rescued a wheelchair-bound man from a burning apartment block.

Samba is in a much more fortunate position than Gorgui – he is a long-term legal resident in Spain with a full-time job – although his initial struggles, when he travelled to the country from his native Mali, would have been similar. He spent months in a migrant interment centre after he got into Spain 'illegally' in 2009 by climbing the border fence from Morocco into Ceuta, a common 'back door' route into the country for migrants fleeing poverty, violence, persecution and political unrest.

And before all that, he had travelled 2,000 kilometres from the former French colony to the northern African coast, mostly on foot, in his desperate bid to work for a better life for his family.

Gorgui, from Sénégal, worked seven days a week from sun-up to sun-down selling cheap souvenirs in Dénia port before catching the bus back to Gandia (southern Valencia province), where he rented a single room in a flat which he shared with his wife and baby daughter.

After spotting Álex, 38, shouting for help from his wheelchair on his fourth-floor balcony when his apartment was on fire a few months back, Gorgui scaled the block wall, bodily picked Álex up and carried him to terra firma over his shoulder – before returning to catch his bus home once he was sure the terrified man was okay.

A huge resident and local authority campaign, including a massive whip-round to cover his costs, enabled Gorgui to get a residence card for himself, his wife and child on the grounds of 'public interest', meaning he can now work towards realising his dream of becoming a lorry driver and renting a flat for the family.

The above photograph is of Samba, attempting to recreate his feat for the benefit of reporters' cameras, and was published in Murcia regional newspaper La Verdad and in the local gazette for the Spanish city he first set foot in, El Faro de Ceuta.