A three-year-old boy has died after falling 65 feet from the sixth-floor balcony of a family apartment in Nicosia, Cyprus. Police arrested the boy's parents on suspicion of child negligence following the incident.
Fatal fall on Saturday evening
Emergency services were called at around 6:15pm on Saturday, September 12, after the child's father frantically called for an ambulance. The boy fell from the family's apartment balcony and was rushed to hospital, where he died at approximately 6:50pm despite medical efforts.
The boy was three years and nine months old and would have turned four in December. Cypriot paper Philenews reported the details of the incident.
Parents arrested and investigation launched
Police have launched an investigation into the boy's death, and a post-mortem examination is set to be carried out. Both parents—the father, 32, and the mother, 33—were arrested at the scene and are currently held in custody.
The couple are awaiting trial on charges of causing death through a reckless, careless or dangerous act. Police are set to question the parents over their five days in custody. Local media has stated the parents may share the family apartment with another child also in their care.
Similar incident earlier this year
The tragedy echoes a previous case in Cyprus earlier this year, when a three-year-old British boy died after falling from the fourth floor of a hotel corridor window near Chloraka. The boy's 37-year-old father was arrested after the incident.
The child's family had arrived for a summer holiday the day before the fall. Emergency services took the child to Paphos General Hospital, where he later died of his injuries. Police received reports of that fall at around 6:40pm. The family also has a five-year-old girl who was with them on holiday. The boy is believed to have fallen from an open corridor window in the hotel. The father was reportedly arrested on suspicion of causing death by a reckless, negligent or dangerous act, neglect of duty as the head of a family, and failing in his responsibility as a person having care of another.
