They had attempted three earlier escapes from their sixteenth floor home but had been forced back inside by hot, black smoke.

But after an emotional 999 operative told him “there was nothing more they could do”, Mr Macit said he decided he would prefer to die “trying to escape than waiting to burn to death.”

Holding back the tears Mr Macit, a chauffeur, said: “The woman on the phone was sobbing, she said to me, ‘We cannot reach your floor. Your best option is to just run from your flat’.
“I told her we were in our fifties and I had not run anywhere since my army days but she just said, ‘please, try to save yourselves, you just have to run’.

“I just made the decision, I thought, we can wait here to burn to death or we can try to escape. I thought, ‘we have to take the chance on the stairs.

Maybe we are not meant to die and there is a chance for us’.”

The married couple were watching TV, waiting to start their Ramadan fast, when they heard the fire engines arrive but dismissed it as a minor incident.
Moments later a relative in a neighbouring tower block texted them a photograph of the flames engulfing their building.

Mr Macit quickly dialled 999 but was told to place wet towels under the doors and stay put.

The couple’s grown-up children, Merve, 27, and Tugba, 24, raced to the scene and begged them to get out but despite three escape attempts were forced back inside.

Mr Macit said: “I was ringing 999 and at that point they were telling me someone would still be up to save us and to keep the line free because they would ring when they got her
“She told me to put wet towels round our faces and lie on the floor if the smoke got too much.