One-year-old Falls From Fourth Floor Flat's Window in Mumbai, Gets No Injuries

Mumbai: A one-year-old boy miraculously survived after he slipped from the window of a fourth floor flat in suburban Govandi, his family said. 

A tree stretching close to the ungrilled window worked as a cushion for the infant, Atharva Barkade, who escaped unhurt after the fall.

The incident took place at around 9 am Thursday when the boy’s parents, Ajeet and Mangal Barkade, were having breakfast.

The Barkades suddenly realised their son was missing from the hall and when they looked down from the window, they found him on the ground trying to stand up. The fourth floor flat in a housing society in Govandi is home to Ajeet Barkade’s joint family, which includes members of his younger brother’s family. 

Someone had opened the flat’s window and forgot to shut it properly, family members said.

“My son was playing in the hall from where he moved towards the open window and rolled down. We suddenly realised something was amiss and started looking for him.

“When we peeped out from the window we saw our son lying on the ground beneath a bent tree branch,” said his father Ajeet Barkade.

The tree branch acted as a cushion and helped the child land safely, he said. The boy did not receive any major injuries, but his parents have admitted him in a private hospital in suburban Mulund, where he is under observation,” said a relative of the Barkades.

The relative said the Barkade family’s business is related to supplying fertiliser and soil for trees.