A Zimbabwean has been labelled a hero neighbour in the UK after he raced to save two children from a devastating house fire that killed their parents and caught them as they jumped out the window.

Robert Chirowa, 46, a carer, rushed to the scene of the blaze in Withington, Manchester, in the early hours of Friday morning wearing only his pyjamas.

Four children, aged between 10 and 17, were injured in the house fire that killed their parents. They are recovering in hospital, where they remain in a stable condition

Mr Chirowa, who moved to the UK from Zimbabwe in 2001, said: ‘I followed where the scream was coming from and I got to the house and saw there was fire.

‘I wasn’t even wearing my shoes. I ran out the house in my pyjamas and headed to where the noise was coming from – which was only three houses away.

‘I turned around and there was this young girl there lying on the floor and she pointed at the window to say, “please can you save my brother and my sister – ask them to jump?”

Speaking to The Sun, he added: ‘I wasn’t scared for myself…I just didn’t want to see those little kids die.

‘It was so smoky and it was blazing hot so I couldn’t actually see very well. ‘I just outstretched my arms and shouted up to the kids “please jump into my hands”.

‘The boy jumped first and I caught him and put him on the grass. Then the girl jumped as well and I caught her in my arms.’ Five people in total were rescued from the house and are in a stable condition in hospital, according to Greater Manchester Police.

As well as the four children, aged between 10 and 17, a second man in the house also escaped the fire.

Fire chief Mark Threader said the blaze is believed to have been started in a room at the back of the house on the ground floor.

Police and fire investigators are still probing the cause of the blaze. – Daily Mail