A one-year-old boy narrowly escaped serious injury after his baby walker rolled down a staircase from a height of nearly three metres while the adults caring for him were momentarily distracted.
The frightening incident occurred recently in Yangjiang, Guangdong, and was captured on the family’s home CCTV system. The footage has since gone viral on Chinese social media, sparking widespread criticism over child safety.
According to the child’s father, who shared the video online, the toddler had just turned one and was moving around the house in a baby walker on the morning of 10 July.
At the time, the boy’s mother had gone into the kitchen to prepare food, believing the child’s grandmother was watching him. However, the grandmother was occupied with a video call and failed to notice the toddler wandering towards the front door.
With the main door left open, the child rolled out of the house in the baby walker before heading directly towards the staircase.
Moments later, the walker plunged down the stairs, tumbling nearly three metres before overturning and throwing the child onto the floor at the bottom of the staircase.
Hearing the loud crash and the child’s cries, both the mother and grandmother rushed outside and found the toddler crying at the foot of the stairs before immediately taking him to hospital.
Fortunately, medical examinations confirmed that the child did not suffer any head or bodily injuries despite the terrifying fall.
The father said the accident happened after “just one minute” of inattention and decided to share the CCTV footage as a warning to other parents and caregivers about the importance of constant supervision.
The incident triggered heated discussions online, with many social media users expressing shock that the child had been left unattended.
Many criticised the adults for lacking basic safety awareness, while others reminded parents that young children should never be left unsupervised, especially when using baby walkers near potential hazards such as staircases.
