Three-year-old survives fall from 18th-floor apartment in China
The incident took place in Zhejiang province's Hangzhou at around 3pm on 15 July when the toddler was left in the care of his grandparents.
Believing he was asleep, the grandparents stepped out to buy groceries, bolting the door behind them to ensure he stayed inside, according to a report in Jimu News.
However, the child woke up and went to the bathroom where he climbed onto the toilet and out of an unlocked window that had no safety bars, plunging down.
A resident from the same community discovered the boy lying on the ground, filmed the scene and posted the footage in the property management group. It was only after seeing the message that the child's father, identified only as Zhu, learned that his son had fallen.
'At first, I could not believe he had fallen from the 18th floor until surveillance footage from the property management group confirmed it,' he said, according to the South China Morning Post.
The surveillance footage showed the child brushing past an open window on the 17th floor, shifting his trajectory and landing in the branches of a tree before plunging face first into a bush on the ground, rather than directly on concrete.
According to Beijing News, property management staff immediately called police and an ambulance to take the child to a local hospital. Doctors who treated him at the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine described his survival as 'a miracle'.
The toddler sustained a fractured left arm, spinal strain, and damage to internal organs, but his head remained uninjured and he was fully conscious throughout. Astonishingly, he even asked the medical team to 'ask daddy to buy me a Bumblebee' toy shortly after admission.
Reports from Chinese media stated that the child was gradually recovering.
In a traditional gesture of gratitude, the family tied a large red flower around the tree that cushioned his fall, a symbol of honour and thanksgiving in Chinese culture.
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