A 17-year-old boy has told how he broke the fall of a woman who jumped from a window to escape her burning flat.

Usman Sheikh, of Brantwood Gardens, Redbridge, said he ran to the aid of the victim when he saw the smoke, holding out a dust sheet with four other men for her to jump into.

He then kicked down the door of a neighbouring flat to check if there was anyone inside before fire crews arrived at the scene in Woodford Avenue, Gants Hill at 10.15pm yesterday.

He told the Recorder: “I ran over fast and saw two people climb on the ledge of the top floor and jump.

“Then a blonde girl came out and me and four guys held up a dustsheet and told her to jump on to it.”

When she landed in the blanket her face was “covered in soot” and she is thought to have suffered a broken ankle and wrist.

Mr Sheikh then kicked down the front door of the flat next door, believing the occupants were still inside.

Two of the people who had already jumped for their lives from the flat hit the pavement face first, says another witness.

It took a team of 30 firefighters more than two-and-a-half hours to get the fire under control.

Barrie Wright, of Whitehall Road, Woodford Green, said: “When we arrived the fire was raging out of one of the windows, and acrid smoke had filled the flat.

“The first two occupants just jumped from the window. I heard the crack as their face hit the pavement, they were seriously hurt.”

A spokeswoman from the London Ambulance Service said they were called to the scene just before 10.15pm.

She added: “We treated a woman with multiple injuries and a man who were both taken to the Royal London Hospital [Whitechapel] accompanied by a doctor from the air ambulance.

“A 52-year-old man with hand and back injuries was taken as a priority to Queen’s Hospital, Romford.”

It is also thought paramedics later treated a firefighter for dehydration.

The spokeswoman added: “We were called back at 12.50am and took a patient in his forties to King George Hospital.”