On May 26, Enzo, a 4-year-old French child, narrowly avoided serious injury after falling from his 16th-floor flat, which is the equivalent of a 43-meter plunge. His parents and medical experts are in disbelief over the tragedy, which happened in a high-rise apartment building in downtown France.
Enzo, who has been diagnosed with autism, was in his room when his father, Ji, heard him crying. Upon attempting to enter the room, Ji discovered the door was locked, an unprecedented occurrence that likely caused Enzo to panic. Ji managed to break down the door, only to find the room empty and the window open. Horrified, Ji rushed to the balcony and saw Enzo lying motionless on the dirt-covered roof of a ground-level pharmacy.
Fearing the worst, Ji quickly descended to the pharmacy roof. To his astonishment, Enzo began to move, displaying only a small scratch on his leg. “Enzo was able to move,” Ji recounted to French newspaper Le Parisien. “He was conscious and I didn’t see any external blood. He just had a small scratch on his leg.”
Despite Enzo’s seemingly minor injuries, his parents called emergency services, fearing internal damage. Enzo was admitted to Necker Hospital, where he remained under observation for seven days. During his stay, doctors conducted numerous tests to confirm his health status. Remarkably, apart from minor bleeding in his kidneys and lungs, which were swiftly treated, Enzo showed no serious injuries.
After a week of observation, Enzo was discharged from the hospital and resumed his normal activities. His mother, Helene, expressed her astonishment: “He has resumed a normal life, everything is fine. I was not a believer, but now I am!”
The mystery of how Enzo survived such a fall with minimal injuries remains unsolved. Some attribute his survival to the dirt-covered roof cushioning his fall, while doctors suggest that his light, flexible body played a significant role. Dr. Véronique Bourg explained, “Children have a more favorable coefficient of elasticity of bones and joints.”
This extraordinary incident echoes a similar case from 2018, where a 2-year-old girl in Changzhou, China, survived a fall from the 17th floor with minimal injuries. These cases highlight the remarkable resilience of young children’s bodies.