Umbrella saves boy after he jumps from ten-storey building
A seven-year-old boy has miraculously survived a ten-storey fall from a building after using an umbrella as a ‘parachute’, according to local media reports.
The boy was believed to have been trying to imitate a cartoon character he had been watching on television at his home in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou. It is understood that his parents had left him at home alone.
He was rushed for emergency treatment at the Affiliated Children’s Hospital at Suzhou University where doctors performed emergency surgery. The boy, who has not been named was removed from the hospital's critical list last night, according to doctors.
The boy's fall was partially broken by a power line, according to reports, leaving him lying on the ground injured next to a large red umbrella.
Video footage of the boy's mother collapsing at the scene went viral on Chinese social media networks and was repeatedly aired on local on Chinese television which featured his "miraculous" escape on evening news bulletins.
This is not the first time that a child in China has been injured after imitating stunts from films and TV shows, leading to a debate over whether films and TV programmes are carry sufficient warnings and appropriate age ratings.
Last month, a five-year-old girl jumped off the 11th floor of a building while carrying a backpack and umbrella in the far-Western Chinese city of Urumqi.
She survived after landing on a fourth floor balcony, but suffered serious injuries. The girl had been inspired by watching the cartoon ‘Boonie Bears’, according to local reports.
