A Russian toddler survived a 110ft fall from a high rise tower block window after two quick-thinking nurses used a coat to catch him mid-air.
Shocking footage shows the 18-month-old teetering on a windowsill of a residential block in St Petersburg, before losing his grip and plunging towards the ground.
But nurses Anna Kabashova and Olga Artemyeva were quick to act, and used a woman's coat as a makeshift safety net, video shows.
A heavy thud could be heard in the footage as the child plummeted and slammed into the outstretched coat.
The child was then wrapped in the remnants of the coat and rushed to the nearest clinic before being transferred to hospital, but was not seriously injured.
'We were acting on instinct. We didn't know how to behave in such a situation,' nurse Kabashova said in an interview following the terrifying ordeal.
Witnesses said the toddler had been trying to open the top floor window for up to 20 minutes, with no adult supervising him.
At one point he was seen standing on the sill, opening and closing the window, before climbing out.
A Russian toddler survived a 110ft fall from a tower block window after two women used a coat to catch him mid-air.
Footage shows the 18-month-old teetering on a windowsill of a residential block in St Petersburg, before losing his grip and plunging towards the ground.
The child's parents were reportedly visiting neighbours at the time.
His 18-year-old brother was at home playing a video game in another room and only realised what was happening after hearing screams from the street, according to local media.
Safety locks were fitted to two side windows in the flat, but not the central one the toddler managed to open.
An eyewitness said: 'The child had been trying to open the window for about 20 minutes.
'When he managed to climb out, he first ate some snow and looked outside.
'Then he put one leg out, grabbed the ledge with his hands, lost his grip and fell'
Nurse Kabashova said: 'He was standing there, opening and closing the window again and again.
'I stood directly beneath the window.
'Another woman came up to me and said, 'Shall we catch him?' I replied, 'Let's do it.'
'We saw the little child beginning to climb over the windowsill as if he were getting off a sofa, one leg, then the other -- and we realised it was about to happen,' she said.
'Then it was a matter of seconds. Someone shouted, 'He's falling, he's falling!' -- and he was already in our coat.'
The Primorsky District Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the fall and will examine the parents' supervision of the child.
The dramatic rescue comes just days after another boy was caught by a yard cleaner after falling from a seventh-floor window elsewhere in the city.
In Russia, social media users have hailed the rescuers as heroes.
Pro-Kremlin media figure Margarita Simonyan has reportedly called for the nurses to be identified for an award after previously giving a one-million-rouble [£9,600] prize to another rescuer this week.
Sergey told reporters: 'I'm not a hero. You just have to find a way out of the situation.'