[/floatr]Asahi: Spanish hero saves woman from fire
Antonio Solera normally uses his hands to pluck his guitar. Those same hands plucked a woman from disaster. Solera, a 55-year-old visiting Spanish flamenco guitarist, rescued a woman from a burning building in Tokyo's Shibuya early Sunday. Solera, who is in Japan to perform with the acclaimed Antonio Gades flamenco troupe, said he didn't have to think twice about saving the damsel in distress. Solera was walking along a street in Shibuya Ward before dawn Sunday when he heard the woman screaming for help from a burning condominium building. Looking up, he saw the woman, 26, hanging from a balcony handrail. Flames were shooting out behind her. Solera immediately took off his black jacket, spread it across his arms like a mat and urged her to jump. "I thought she was in serious trouble. I did not stop to think about being hurt by catching her in my arms," Solera told The Asahi Shimbun on Tuesday. Solera, 168 centimeters tall and weighing about 65 kilograms, speaks only a smattering of Japanese. He said he called out "Sumimasen!" (excuse me) and other phrases to encourage the woman. She leaped the 4 meters from the balcony into his arms. Firefighters arrived at the scene minutes later. The woman suffered burns to her arms and throat, but she was not hurt from the jump, firefighters said... Solera was interviewed by The Asahi Shimbun backstage at Bunkamura Orchard Hall after a performance Tuesday. He said he just happened to be returning to his hotel after stopping to eat his favorite late-night snack -- ramen.
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