BEIJING: A four-year-old boy miraculously survived after falling from the window of his 11th-floor home.
After the boy gained consciousness, he said in tears to his mother that he had climbed onto the window because he was missing her so much that he wanted to see if she was coming home.
The boy’s experience went viral online after his experience was reported by the Haibao News in early May.
The incident unfolded on April 11 when the boy, nicknamed Xiaoming, was left alone in his home in Dalian, Liaoning province, northeastern China, as his parents went out to deliver goods.
Xiaoming’s mother said they planned to return after a short time and they felt assured of their son’s safety.
“It is because the door was locked and also the window screen. There is a surveillance camera through which we can check the child’s situation at any time,” the mother told the media.
“But somehow, the child managed to get the key to the window screen and open it by himself,” she said.
About two hours later, when Xiaoming’s father returned, he discovered that the boy was missing. He went downstairs to look, only to find his son lying on the cement ground near their residential building.
The father, surnamed Song, rushed the boy to a nearby hospital where doctors listed his condition as critical. The boy had broken multiple bones and his liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys were all damaged.
“Doctors told us the survival rate was only five per cent. When we heard this, we felt the sky was falling,” said Song.
Xiaoming was sent to the intensive care unit (ICU) and doctors updated his parents twice a day.
“Each time we met with the doctors, we were very nervous, fearing that the doctors would tell us bad news,” Song said.
Fortunately, 18 days later, Xiaoming was transferred to the ordinary ward. He is receiving further treatment and undergoing rehabilitation.
“My boy is generally sensible. When we asked him why he climbed onto the window, he said he was just missing me so much. He wanted to see if we were returning home,” said the mother.
Xiaoming’s parents are confident that he will make a full recovery.
“It is a miracle that our boy has survived,” they said.
Young children who survive falls from a height often attract attention on mainland China.
Last year, a nine-year-old girl in northern Hebei province survived after she fell from her 25th-floor home and landed on a platform 18 floors below.
The accident happened because the window in her home was loose.
Some children have not been so lucky.
In a tragedy last year in southern Hainan province, a three-year-old boy plunged from a 27th-floor corridor and died after he was left home alone after his grandmother went to buy groceries.
China’s Law on the Protection of Minors stipulates that parents or guardians should not leave minors under eight years old unattended.
However, almost no such adults have ever been charged when accidents have happened. - South China Morning Post/ANN
