Six-year-old survives seven storey fall

A six-year-old boy survived a fall from a seventh floor apartment in Gothenburg on Friday evening, due in part to the actions of a quick-thinking passerby.

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According to police spokesperson Pia Goksöyr, two officers were on patrol near the building, located on Brunnsbotorget on the island of Hisingen, when they saw the boy dangling from a window as they approached the building.

One of the officers then rushed into the building and up the stairs to the apartment in an effort to reach the boy before he fell.

“He ran to the window, but when he got there it was too late,” Goksöyr told the TT news agency.

“The boy had already fallen.”

But before the boy hit the ground, his fall was partially broken by a man who attempted the catch him, reducing the boy’s injuries and possibly saving his life.

“There was a man who saw the boy hanging from the window and tried to catch him,” said Goksöyr.

“The man succeeded in partially catching him.”

The boy was taken to Sahlgrenska University Hospital and is now being cared for at Sahlgrenska’s Queen Silvia Children´s Hospital in Gothenburg.

His condition is serious, but stable, according to the hospital.

“His condition isn’t life threatening,” said hospital spokesperson Göran Samuelsson to TT.

Police are investigating the matter as a tragic accident and have no suspicions that a crime was committed.

“It may be that the boy shut himself in his room to be by himself and the parents outside the door in the apartment were unaware of what had happened,” said Goksöyr.