Preschooler who fell from 6th floor saved by onlookers with blanket

When a 3-year-old boy who had been dangling from a sixth-floor balcony dropped from the apartment building, bystanders below safely caught him using a blanket in a dramatic rescue captured on video by onlookers in China.

The boy was taken to a hospital but suffered no injuries in the fall Monday afternoon in Chongqing Municipality, which is in southwestern China, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.

“I looked up and saw a little child was dangling up there,” said Zhu Yanhui, who was among several people who helped save the boy. “My first reaction was to find something to catch him. I thought about rushing over there and catch him with my bare hands, but that would not have worked.”

“I held out the blanket along with others, all the while keeping my eyes on the child. I looked at the blanket wondering whether we could catch him safely,” Zhu said, according to CCTV. “My only thought was to keep him safe.”

The child had been left home alone Monday while his grandmother went out for groceries, CCTV said.

Zhou Xiaobo helped safely catch the boy with a blanket. “It all happened so fast,” Zhou said.

Chongqing is around 900 miles southwest of Beijing.

source: nbcnews.com