A five-year-old boy fell nine floors from a downtown Hamilton, Ont. apartment building balcony on Wednesday morning, but incredibly survived.
The badly injured boy, identified as Young-Jin Kim, landed on a grassy courtyard just after 10 a.m. His frantic mother scooped him up and took him to a nearby variety store, where she knows the owner.
"His eyes were opened a little bit, and he was talking and complaining 'my legs hurt,' and he had a little bit of bleeding from the nose," said store owner Seryeong Ha.
Emergency workers attended the store, where they found the conscious boy. Kim was taken to McMaster University Medical Center with what is believed to be two broken legs, a broken pelvis and other internal injuries. He's listed in serious but stable condition.
Police and neighbours are calling the boy's survival a miracle.
The boy's father told CTV News in a phone interview from the hospital that it's not clear how the incident happened.
He said the child's mother was cleaning the apartment when she noticed her son was missing. She then heard moaning and screams. The mother looked over the balcony and saw her boy lying on the ground.
Police are investigating how the boy fell, saying he may have climbed through an open door or window or somehow managed to climb over the balcony railing or through it.
The family is from Korea and moved to Hamilton three years ago.
The Hamilton Police Child Abuse unit is investigating, as is the Children's Aid Society.
With the warmer weather, police and fire officials are reminding parents to make sure they know where their children are when windows and balcony doors are open.
With reports from CTV's Roger Petersen and John Musselman
