This boy saved his mother when the crane fell in Makkah

September 11, 2015. It is a day when the tragedy at Masjid al Haram in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stunned the world. A massive crawler crane, one of many used to modernise the city, collapsed without warning on the Grand Mosque after 5pm on Friday, a time when the mosque is usually bustling with activity.

The unfeeling steel indiscriminately took down concrete as well as flesh and bones standing in its path. In the aftermath, the sorrowful scenes saw 107 people dead and 238 injured.

The stories emerging from the incident are horrifying. Many have lost their beloved family members in a few heartbeats.

Yet, there is also a stunning tale of heroism.

A brave young boy, who from the footage seems to be around 10-years-old, notices the incoming danger. While many others around him are frozen into place by the impending doom, the adrenaline launches him into action. Using all of his strength, and perhaps more than he had any right to have, he pushes his mother (at least who I assume is his mother), out of the way in the nick of time.

His actions are all the more incredible considering that the woman is twice his size.

As the grime from the broken concrete fills the air, his mother wakes up completely disoriented, with her thoughts clearly centred on her son. She desperately sprawls around trying to find him, finally noticing him lying on the floor close to where they had been standing.

One can only imagine the shock this mother feels to witness her son so still.

The bond between a mother and a child is a connection no one else, not even a father, can feel. For nine months, a child grows in the womb, with the mother sensing its growth at a physical and emotional level she sometimes struggles to put into words. As the child grows into a position where it is able to leave its host, the mother makes countless sacrifices.

These sacrifices are painful beyond imagination, but as any mother will tell you, they are worth several times over when a new born opens its eyes and sets its gaze upon on its mother for the first time.

Many modern hospitals will, as soon as a child is born, place it on the bosom of its mother, the umbilical cord still attached. This immediate skin to skin contact soothes both child and mother, enhancing a nine-month long attachment destined to last a lifetime.

The bond is further strengthened as the child grows little by little. Every day, the baby’s safety and nourishment are primarily in the hands of its mother. She is this new human being’s everything. Her baby will turn to her at every instant, with every need, and will eventually reward her with its first words, “Mamma”.

It is no wonder this boy sacrificed his own body for a chance to aid his mother. After all, his mother had been doing the same his whole life.