Henan schoolgirl praised for falling toddler rescue attempt

A 12-year-old girl has been praised for trying to save a toddler who fell from the third floor of a building into a busy street in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province. 

A video circulating online shows the girl, Chen Keyu, running to catch the boy as he fell, and crashing into the back of a row of delivery motorbikes. The boy was picked up off the floor by the girl and rushed to hospital by ambulance.

The sixth-grader said she just wanted to save the boy, regardless of whether she injured herself in the attempt, in an interview with Henan Business Daily. She added that she was sorry she hadn't been able to catch the boy.

The whole thing was shot by a surveillance camera on a nearby shop. The owner was so moved by Chen's actions that he decided to post the pictures online.

"I felt warm in my heart and shed tears after seeing a 12-year-old girl trying to catch a falling child with her bare hands," one netizen commented. 

Others have expressed concern that the girl might have hurt herself, had she actually caught the falling child. Chen's school says it encourages this kind of selflessness but pledged to arrange classes teaching its pupils how to stay safe while helping others.

Meanwhile, the local security bureau has reminded parents to take better care of their children and prevent them from getting too near to windows, balconies or the roof.