THIS is the terrifying moment a toddler tumbles 110ft from a tower block window – before hero locals catch him in a coat.
The 18-month-old survived the horror fall because of quick-thinking locals, who stretched a stretched out a coat like a trampoline, catching him milliseconds before he would have smashed into the ground.
The tot opened the window himself, before dangling from the tower block windowCredit: East2west News
The tot lost his grip on the ledge and plummeted 110ftCredit: East2west News
But luckily hero locals had seen the toddler and stretched out a coat in preparationCredit: East2west News
Shocking footage shows the tot teetering on the window sill of a residential block in St Petersburg, Russia.
He dangles dangerously from the window, before losing his grip and plummeting towards the ground.
Miraculously, two nurses were stood nearby, and had noticed the toddler as he hung from the high window.
Olga Artemyeva acted fast and took off her coat.
She stretched it out to catch the toddler with Anna Kabashova.
Anna told local reporters: “We were acting on instinct. We didn’t know how to behave in such a situation.”
Witnesses said the toddler had been trying to open the top floor window for up to 20 minutes, with no adult in sight.
At one point, the toddler was spotted standing on the sill and opening and closing the window.
An elderly man coordinated the rescue effort from the ground, calling emergency services and directing those holding the coat.
Then came the scream: “He’s falling!”
Moments later there was a heavy thud as the child dropped like a stone and slammed into the outstretched coat, which tore apart under the force – and the child hit the snow beneath.
One of the heroic rescuers said: “The coat was torn to pieces — sleeves, lining, everything.”
Luckily, the boy was conscious – and crying.
Nurses Olga Artemyeva and Anna Kabashova caught the toddler in a coatCredit: East2west News
The 18-month-old had been left alone when his parents went to visit neighboursCredit: East2west News
He was wrapped in the remnants of the coat and rushed to the nearest clinic before being transferred to hospital, where his condition is described as satisfactory.
Among the rescuers was Sergey, 57, who had been walking past when he saw two women screaming beneath the building.
He said: “I looked up — the child was already on the ledge.”
“I realised we had to catch the child somehow.”
“You couldn’t catch him with your hands from that height, and a sheet would tear. I showed them where to stand and how to stretch the coat out like a trampoline.”
The child’s parents were reportedly visiting neighbours at the time.
His 18-year-old brother playing on a computer in another room and only realised what was happening after hearing the screams from the street.
Another eyewitness said: “The child had been trying to open the window for about 20 minutes.
“When he managed to climb out, he first ate some snow and looked outside.
“Then he put one leg out, grabbed the ledge with his hands, lost his grip and fell.”
Nurse Anna said: “We saw the little child beginning to climb over the windowsill as if he were getting off a sofa, one leg, then the other — and we realised it was about to happen.
“Then it was a matter of seconds. Someone shouted, ‘He’s falling, he’s falling!’ — and he was already in our coat.”
An investigation into the fall was launched.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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