Miracle: 3-year-old in China survives 18th-floor fall
Security footage showed the child brushing past an open window and landing in a tree before falling into a bush, cushioning the impact.
A three-year-old boy in Hangzhou, China, has defied all odds by surviving a fall from the 18th floor of his apartment building.
The dramatic incident occurred on July 15 while the child was under the care of his grandparents, reports the South China Morning Post.
Thinking the boy was asleep, the grandparents briefly left the apartment to run errands, locking the door behind them. After waking up, the child went to the bathroom, climbed onto the toilet, and fell out of an unsecured window without safety bars.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Remarkably, the boy's fall was broken by a tree, which saved his life. A nearby resident discovered the toddler on the ground and shared a video of the scene in the community's property management group. The child's father, Zhu, only learned of the incident after seeing the message.
"At first, I could not believe he had fallen from the 18th floor until surveillance footage from the property management group confirmed it," Zhu said. He speculated that the boy may have hit an open 17th-floor window, which altered his fall. "Otherwise, the child would have landed directly on the concrete," he added.
Security footage showed the child brushing past an open window and landing in a tree before falling into a bush, cushioning the impact.
The boy was quickly taken to the hospital, where doctors described his survival as a "miracle,".
He suffered a fractured arm, spinal strain, and internal injuries but avoided any head trauma and remained conscious throughout. In a touching moment, he reportedly asked doctors, "ask daddy to buy me a Bumblebee" toy.
To honour the tree that likely saved his son's life, Zhu later decorated it with a large red flower, a Chinese symbol of gratitude and celebration.
