ianstone
07-26-2010, 05:32 PM
New Zealand teenager survives falling 16 storeys
A teenager has astonished doctors in New Zealand after surviving a fall from the top floor of a 16-storey apartment block with only relatively minor injuries.
By Paul Chapman in Wellington
Published: 7:00AM BST 26 Jul 2010
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01685/apartment_1685357c.jpg A teenager plunged more than 160ft from a balcony of the high-rise Proximity Apartments in Auckland's Manukau district Photo: PHOTOLIBRARY
The 15-year-old plunged more than 160ft from a balcony of the high-rise Proximity Apartments in Auckland's Manukau district, and landed on a concrete floor.
He is making a good recovery in the city's Middlemore Hospital with a broken rib, fractured wrist, gouged leg and internal injuries.
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Medical staff have described his survival as "miraculous" and say he is likely to be discharged by the end of the week.
They believe he owes his life to first hitting the corrugated steel roof of a parking building below, which buckled as he crashed through it and cushioned his fall.
Doctors say it is very rare for anyone to survive a fall of more than five storeys.
Head injuries are the most common cause of fall deaths and they believe the boy, who has not been named, was also lucky not to have landed on his head.
The alarm was raised by another resident of the apartment block, who was out on his balcony smoking a cigarette when the boy fell past him.
Kaa Wehi, a housekeeper at the complex, said people in the apartments heard a loud crash and thought there had been a car crash until they saw the boy's body lying on the ground.
"Then there was screaming, just screaming."
Ms Wehi told the New Zealand Herald: "The boy's mother ran out of the elevator on the ground floor, shouting 'Is it my boy? Is it my boy?'
"God must have been with him. He's got an angel looking after him, that's for sure."
The reason for the boy's fall is unclear and Ms Wehi said she understood the mother had been in bed about 9.30pm, leaving the boy to finish his homework on a laptop.
"His parents are dumbfounded about the whole thing."
Jason Epps-Eades, the building manager, said the apartment balconies were "very safe" with railings that were chest-high on a tall person.
"He's going to be okay. It's just incredible that he survived," Mr Epps-Eades said
A teenager has astonished doctors in New Zealand after surviving a fall from the top floor of a 16-storey apartment block with only relatively minor injuries.
By Paul Chapman in Wellington
Published: 7:00AM BST 26 Jul 2010
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01685/apartment_1685357c.jpg A teenager plunged more than 160ft from a balcony of the high-rise Proximity Apartments in Auckland's Manukau district Photo: PHOTOLIBRARY
The 15-year-old plunged more than 160ft from a balcony of the high-rise Proximity Apartments in Auckland's Manukau district, and landed on a concrete floor.
He is making a good recovery in the city's Middlemore Hospital with a broken rib, fractured wrist, gouged leg and internal injuries.
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Medical staff have described his survival as "miraculous" and say he is likely to be discharged by the end of the week.
They believe he owes his life to first hitting the corrugated steel roof of a parking building below, which buckled as he crashed through it and cushioned his fall.
Doctors say it is very rare for anyone to survive a fall of more than five storeys.
Head injuries are the most common cause of fall deaths and they believe the boy, who has not been named, was also lucky not to have landed on his head.
The alarm was raised by another resident of the apartment block, who was out on his balcony smoking a cigarette when the boy fell past him.
Kaa Wehi, a housekeeper at the complex, said people in the apartments heard a loud crash and thought there had been a car crash until they saw the boy's body lying on the ground.
"Then there was screaming, just screaming."
Ms Wehi told the New Zealand Herald: "The boy's mother ran out of the elevator on the ground floor, shouting 'Is it my boy? Is it my boy?'
"God must have been with him. He's got an angel looking after him, that's for sure."
The reason for the boy's fall is unclear and Ms Wehi said she understood the mother had been in bed about 9.30pm, leaving the boy to finish his homework on a laptop.
"His parents are dumbfounded about the whole thing."
Jason Epps-Eades, the building manager, said the apartment balconies were "very safe" with railings that were chest-high on a tall person.
"He's going to be okay. It's just incredible that he survived," Mr Epps-Eades said