Hero neighbours have saved a four-year-old girl after she plunged from a 5th-floor balcony.
Three quick-thinking men spotted the girl hanging from a balcony railing and rushed to help.
They stretched out a blanket and caught the youngster as she fell from the balcony.
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Dramatic CCTV footage shows the moment the heroes acted in the nick of time.
One of the rescuers, Dariusz Płoński, said: “When I came out of the building, I heard people screaming.
“I looked up and saw the child, who was almost naked and wearing only a shirt.
“The girl was moving from one side of the railing to the other.
“I shouted at her not to move, but she did not respond.”
He added: “It happened in a matter of seconds. When I looked up again and saw that the child had moved to another spot, we barely had time to move into position so she would fall onto the blanket.”
The force of the fall meant she bounced onto the ground, but a doctor among the neighbours checked her immediately.
The girl was conscious and taken to hospital for checks.
Doctors later confirmed only minor bruises.
The drama unfolded in Łomża in north-eastern Poland on Sunday 9 August.
Police spokeswoman Karolina Wojciekian said: “Thanks to their quick response, a tragedy was avoided.”
The child’s mother was asleep inside the flat at the time.
Tests later showed she was almost at the drink-drive limit, with a reported 70 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.
The girl’s father was working abroad.
Police said the mother could face charges of exposing a child to the risk of death or serious injury, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.
The four-year-old had been alone on the balcony for around an hour before climbing the railing and moving to an adjoining one, as reported by Need To Know.
Neighbours tried to wake the mother by banging on the door while the men prepared the blanket below.
The neighbours have been praised for their speedy reactions that averted disaster.
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