Boy survives 12-storey drop when he falls on...

IT COULD have been certain death for a 3-year-old Taiwanese boy when he fell 12 storeys from his home. But luckily for him, a motorcyclist became his unwitting saviour.

The boy, Chen Pinxun, hit Mr Lin Zijun on his left arm and fell to the ground in SanShia Township, Taipei.

Both miraculously survived from the impact.

Pinxun had lacerations at the back of his head and a suspected fracture in his right thigh. And as a result of the fall, Mr Lin, 19, suffered an inflamed tendon on his left arm.

The teen told Apple Daily Taiwan that he had stopped at a convenience store nearby to make some purchases. He had just stepped out of the store, put on his helmet and got on his motorcycle when he felt a sudden pain in his left arm.

Mr Lin immediately blacked out from the pain.

He said that he found that he was in a hospital when he regained consciousness.

'I felt as if a bomb had blown up at my arm,' he said. He added that before he was told of Pinxun's fall, he had no idea what had happened to him.

A 10-year-old boy who saw the incident told Apple Daily Taiwan that it happened so fast, he couldn't even tell that it was a person who had landed on Mr Lin at first.

Passers-by said they heard a 'boom', and called for an ambulance when they saw the two on the ground. Police officers who arrived at the scene also thought that Pinxun was the victim of a traffic accident - until they reviewed CCTV footage from the housing estate.

Ambulance crew told Apple Daily Taiwan that Pinxun's head was covered in blood and that he was crying inconsolably when they arrived.

A fireman was quoted as saying that he had previously encountered a case where someone had survived a four-storey fall. He said: 'But this was just unbelievable. Both of them are very, very lucky indeed.'

Security camera footage showed Pinxun's mother leaving her house earlier with her son and daughter. She returned home with her daughter to retrieve something, and had told the boy to wait at the lift lobby.

When she returned, he was no longer there. Pinxun had apparently re-entered the house while the door was open and climbed over a balcony railing.

She blamed herself for Pinxun's fall, and was just glad that he had survived the fall.

Mr Lin, meanwhile, was also relieved. He said: 'I'm very happy to walk away from this incident alive, and to have saved a young life in the process.'


The New Paper