When David Squillante and Doran Smith went on their honeymoon the Rhode Island couple thought they’d be celebrating their commitment to spending the rest of their lives together.
It never dawned on them that they’d spend some of that long-awaited trip saving the lives of others from a dangerous situation.
The couple was visiting Barcelona when they were walking along and planning to enjoy an afternoon walking tour.
The couple ended up having their wedding party a year after they actually married and postponed their honeymoon for two years due to the pandemic.
That’s when they came across a burning building.
People were looking up toward the balcony and yelling during the chaotic scene.
“I saw a flame coming out of the doorway, next to the door that these women had come out of,” Smith told Turn to 10. “So, I said ‘Oh my God there’s a fire.'”
The women outside of the building were extremely distraught and explained what was going on.
“Instinct took over,” Squillante said.
Squillante said he didn’t think twice and just ran inside hoping to put the fire out as fast as he could and help in any way he could.
The newlyweds found 15 to 20 babies who were asleep in their cribs.
“I just noticed that there were a bunch of babies sleeping in cots,” Squillante told WPRI. “They were ranging in age from newborns to 3 years old.”
The couple grabbed the infants and placed them all in a rolling crib to wheel them out of the building.
Others also stepped in to help bring the children to safety in the room that was rapidly filling with smoke.
“Dave would hand me a baby, I would hand it to someone else,” Smith said. “I ended up holding one across the street, and we ended up hanging one to a guy with a broken arm.”
They were successful in bringing all of the children out of the building unharmed.
The fire is believed to be caused by an electrical fire.
Smith said though they didn’t speak the same language they had a “universal language” which was the instinct to save as many lives as they could.
“It was just … in the moment everyone just wanted to help,” Smith said. “Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we knew everyone was there to help these babies.”
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Fire crews and emergency personnel eventually arrived on the scene to handle the situation.
And just as if nothing had happened, the couple went on to catch up with their tour and continue their honeymoon sightseeing.
“It doesn’t feel real at all,” Squillante said. “Every time I tell [the story], I’m like, ‘did that really happen?’ It felt like a movie scene. But we were happy to be in the right place at the right time.”
The newlyweds said their honeymoon was a memorable experience they won’t soon forget.
Their story also went viral and was shared by several news outlets.
Learn more about the couple’s story in the video below.
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