14 DAY TRIAL // A 15-month-old boy from Minneapolis, U.S, miraculously survived after falling from an 11th floor balcony this weekend. Musa Dayib has been dubbed “the miracle baby” by doctors who are taking care of him at the pediatric intensive care unit at Hennepin County Medical Center.
According to Daily Mail, the boy was playing with his sister and father when the incident happened on Sunday. He fell through the railings of the high-rise Riverside Plaza Apartments in Minneapolis when his father went to the kitchen for a few moments and his sister opened the sliding glass door to the balcony.
Little Musa suffered serious injuries as a result of the fall, including rib fractures with bruising to his lungs, fractures in both arms and a concussion, and is now in a critical but stable condition at the hospital. Neighbors say he was conscious when he was found at the bottom of the apartment building.
Doctors are putting his miraculous survival down to the fact that he landed on a soft patch of land.
“It's definitely a miracle. It's God's gift to his family. Kids don't fall this far and make it often. Especially without a serious brain injury. You or I would've been dead,” doctor Tina Slusher from Hennepin County Medical Center told the Star Tribune.
“He's a baby and he happened to land on a very small patch of mulchy area. He's a kid so they tend to be more flexible and pliable than you and I would be,” she went on to say.
The boy is currently on a ventilator to help with his breathing, but medics expect him to live. On the other hand, doctors say it's too early to determine whether his injuries will cause long-term complications.
Neighbors were amazed when they found out Musa survived the 100-foot (30.5-meter) fall from the high-rise building, and a large crowd gathered at the scene of the accident to see if they could help. Local activist Abdirizak Bihi spent some hours with the baby’s family at the hospital on Monday and said they were still in shock.
“I am more concerned about his dad and his mother. They’re devastated. They can’t even speak,” he said.
The Cedar-Riverside Apartments includes more than 1,000 units and is one of the biggest housing projects in the state. Many of the apartments are occupied by Somali-Americans. Neighbors plan to set up a fund to raise money for the family.
George Sherman, owner of Riverside Plaza apartments, met with community members to discuss additional measures to prevent children from opening the patio doors.