A three-year-old clinging to the outside of the balcony guardrail and struggling to climb back in. Photo: Screenshot of video by China News Service

Residents of a high-rise community used a quilt to break the fall of a small boy who had somehow managed to climb to the outside of his sixth-floor apartment balcony before falling in front of horrified neighbors in Southwest China.

A video of the boy's near death tumble posted on Pear Video on Monday, shows the three-year-old clinging to the outside of the balcony guardrail and struggling to climb back in.

Many people in the multiple building community in Chongqing noticed the boy's perilous position and raised the alarm. A cleaner is credited with quick thinking by bringing out a quilt that more than a dozen people grabbed and held under the boy on the balcony.  

As the boy loses his struggle and begins to tumble, a collective scream echoes throughout the community. To everyone's relief, the boy makes a perfect landing in the makeshift life net held by his neighbors. 

An apartment manager said the boy's grandma left him home alone to go to buy groceries.

Pear Video