A 4-year-old boy in Liaoning Province, China, miraculously survived after falling from an 11th-floor apartment window.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Tuesday, the parents of the boy, identified as Xiao Ming, work as parcel delivery workers. Before leaving for work, they locked the door and window screen and turned on a home camera. They were uneasy about leaving the child alone but could not afford to skip work. Wanting to know when his mother would return, Xiao Ming found the key himself, opened the window and screen, and fell down.
Two hours later, the father returned home and found his son lying on the concrete ground below the apartment. He immediately took him to the hospital. The diagnosis was severe. The boy had suffered fractures throughout his body, along with damage to his liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys. Doctors in charge put his chance of survival at 5 percent. "When I heard that, it felt like the world was collapsing," the father said.
Xiao Ming received intensive care in the ICU, and the medical team updated the parents on his condition twice a day. After pulling through the critical phase, Xiao Ming gradually recovered and was transferred to a general ward after 18 days. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation treatment. "When I asked why he climbed onto the window, he said he missed his mother so much," the mother said. "It is a miracle that he survived."
The SCMP reported that accidents in which children left alone fall from apartment windows have been recurring in China. China's Law on the Protection of Minors prohibits parents or guardians from leaving children under the age of 8 unattended, but such cases rarely lead to actual prosecution.
