Snow slab hits fireman saving baby (VIDEO)

A child rescue operation nearly turned into tragedy, after a fireman climbing up the ladder was carried away by a huge bank of snow in the Russian Far East.

A woman with a baby was trapped inside a flat after fire broke out on the upper floor of a dormitory in the Russian city of Magadan on Thursday. She called the rescuers pleading for them to save the child.A scaling ladder was pulled out on a fire brigade’s arrival, and a firefighter began climbing up to the top floor window. But it was not the fire that was about to cause him the biggest problem, rather treacherous ice and snow.When the fireman was at the top and was preparing to reach out to the window, a huge slab of snow resting on the roof came down on him, carrying him away and down the ladder.Amazingly, the rescuer managed to grip onto the ladder after falling several meters upside down.Two of his workmates rushed to help, one of them climbing up to fetch the baby from the firetrap.The baby was soon rescued and the fire put out. The fireman hit by the mini-avalanche was also unhurt.