Uncle who dropped boy to save him: 'It was terrible'
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Story Highlights
Uncle says he grabbed his nephew from his mom and dad, dropped him to cop
"It was terrible. I just had to make a decision"
Boy survived but his 2-year-old brother was killed in fire, along with eight others
The boy's father injured, but survived
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9 killed in fire in Germany
The four-story apartment building in Ludwigshafen is home to several Turkish immigrant families, and was the target of a Molotov cocktail attack two years ago, police said.
The building went up in flames while revelers were celebrating Carnival. The blaze quickly spread, eating up a wooden staircase that soon gave way. See photos of baby thrown to safety »
Kaplan said he and his daughter were rescued by firefighters at the last second. He's just glad the policeman caught his nephew -- otherwise the family would be dealing with even more tragedy.
"If the cop wouldn't have been standing down there," he said. "I would have just taken the boy and jumped down with him in my arms to save him."
Ludwigshafen is a port city on the west bank of the Rhine River. It is noted for its large chemical industry and is a gateway to the wine-growing region of the Rhine. E-mail to a friend
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The story
Kamil Kaplan faced a horrifying decision as flames engulfed his apartment building: Does he drop his 9-month-old nephew four stories to a policeman or hope the baby boy survives the suffocating smoke?
Kaplan chose to drop the boy, Onur Celar -- a dramatic life-saving moment captured in photographs seen around the world.
"It was terrible. I just had to make a decision," he told CNN.
