Instinct takes over as group of passers-by rush to catch 19-month-old boy who had wandered onto third-floor balcony and fallen off. Toddler’s grateful father thanks bus driver who caught and took impact of son’s fall, saving boy and family. — SCMP
People on mainland social media have flocked to view a viral video which captures the moment a group of passers-by performed an instinctive and dramatic rescue of a toddler falling from the third-floor balcony of a building.
Surveillance footage from July 24 shows a group of passers-by reacting in unison by running towards the building in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province with open arms and trying to catch the child who was tumbling down from the third floor.
Amazingly, the toddler, 19-month-old Chenchen, landed in the arms of one of them and only suffered minor grazes to his legs, according to the news outlet Huashang News.
The man who caught him, Wang Jing, is a bus driver and a father of two children.
Wang said he was riding an electric bike on his way to work when he suddenly spotted Chenchen walking on the balcony outside the third floor flat.
He said he immediately put the bike aside and rushed towards the building as the youngster looked like he was about to fall over the edge of the balcony.
Wang said he did not realise he was not the only one who had reacted on seeing the boy’s predicament until he saw the surveillance video.
The only thing he remembered was kneeling in front of the toddler after he caught him, eager to check if he was fine.
The footage also revealed that Wang had tripped over some steps during the act of catching Chenchen, which cushioned the impact of the boy landing in his arms and without which both he and the youngster might have suffered worse injuries.
Wang said he only suffered minor strain to his arm, adding that he acted out of “the instincts of a father”.
“I thought since I am fat, I could even catch the kid by letting him fall on my body,” added Wang.
The day after the rescue, Chenchen’s parents took the toddler to the bus station to thank Wang.
The father embraced Wang tightly and cried: “I hate to think what would have happened to my kid without you.”
He said Chenchen’s grandmother had left him alone sleeping while she went out to buy medicine and had not expected him to wake up so soon. A gate between the bay window and balcony had also been left unlocked.
“Thanks to these passers-by who came to the rescue, not only has this toddler been given a second life, a family has been saved,” said one online observer.
“It is hard to imagine what would have happened to the bus driver without the cushioning effect of the steps. Parents really should be more careful,” said another person.
“Everyone looked above without noticing the steps below. What a group of selfless people,” said a third.
Earlier this month, mainland social media was moved by a dozen neighbours who used an outstretched quilt to catch a 40-day-old baby dropped from the fourth-floor window of a blazing flat by its mother in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.
The mother was later rescued by the firefighters. – South China Morning Post
