A five-year-old boy who fell from a third-floor balcony on Thursday (Aug. 8) is at home recovering with a cracked vertebrae.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Drew Grainger said the child and his two-year-old sibling were at home with their mom when she quickly went to borrow a vacuum cleaner from a neighbour down the hall.
She was away from the apartment for only minutes, but the door had locked behind her and she was unable to get back inside for nearly an hour.
In the meantime, her son went out on the balcony, climbed the railing, and tumbled over onto the concrete below. He was taken by air ambulance to BC Children's Hospital, but has since been released and is expected to make a full recovery.
The incident took place near 107 Avenue and 139 Street.
"It's a potentially tragic story, but again, these things are preventable," said Grainger. "We have to be mindful of how vulnerable our children are around open windows and balconies."
The accident is one of many similar incidents in Surrey within the past year.
In May, a three-year-old pushed out a window screen in Newton and fell from a second-storey window, suffering a concussion.
Last August, a two-and-a-half year old girl died after falling from a ninth-floor apartment in North Surrey. And a month before that, another toddler escaped injury after falling from a third-storey window.