Nine meters deep

Boy (4) fell out of window: how to prevent it

The broken fly screen was still hanging out of the window on Tuesday.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

A four-year-old boy fell around nine meters from the second floor through a fly screen in Weyer. Upper Austria is particularly affected by such accidents, says a safety expert. How such dangerous incidents could be prevented.

The day after, a gruesome picture presented itself in Weyer: the fly screen through which a boy (4) had fallen nine meters on Monday was still hanging torn off in the window. However, none of the neighbors wanted to comment on the accident on Tuesday.

Hit on the asphalt
The four-year-old had apparently climbed from the bed to the windowsill in the bedroom while his mother (26) was on the toilet, according to the police. He may have leaned against the fly screen in the open window. This gave way and the boy fell from the second floor, hitting the asphalt.

After he was flown to the intensive care unit at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz with life-threatening injuries, good news came from there on Tuesday: "There is no danger to his life. The boy may be able to be transferred to the normal ward on Tuesday or Wednesday."

Falls are the most common cause of accidents among children. They are particularly serious from a height, including falls from the changing table.

Johanna Trauner-Karner, Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit

Lockable window handles
The accident is not an isolated incident: "There have been a lot of window falls recently. Upper Austria is particularly affected," says Johanna Trauner-Karner, safety expert at the Austrian Road Safety Board. "The very best thing is to bar windows with fall protection. The second option is lockable window handles, which can be retrofitted relatively easily and locked with a key." Trauner-Karner also recommends paying attention to safety measures when the children are with their grandparents or other guardians.

The mother of the four-year-old from Weyer is being investigated for negligent bodily harm as standard. In another case, a window fall led to a criminal complaint: in March, a five-year-old died in Linz, and on July 23 his mother and her partner will have to stand trial. They were allegedly out for a walk at the time of the accident.