A delivery man in Vietnam caught and broke the fall of a three-year-old girl who fell off the 12th floor of an apartment building.

The incident occurred in Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi late on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 28, 2021.

The man who caught the toddler has since been hailed a hero.

What happened

The incident occurred at the apartment building at 60B Nguyen Huy Tuong Street in Thanh Xuan District at around 5:30 pm on Sunday, Vietnamese media reported.

The three-year-old girl, identified as N.P.H., climbed over her flat’s balcony on the 12th floor of block 12A.

She did not fall off immediately, but hung on the edge of the ledge for a few seconds, video footage of the incident showed.

Residents in the vicinity, who witnessed what was happening when the toddler climbed out onto the ledge, screamed for help.

[The video has been restricted by YouTube due to the nature of the content, which some viewers will find distressing. You can click the link to proceed to the YouTube video directly.]

Caught by man downstairs

A 31-year-old delivery man who was waiting for a customer at the location, heard the residents’ cry and went to the child's rescue.

The child's saviour, Nguyen Ngoc Manh, said: “I looked around and looked up, then I saw a baby climbing the railing on the upper floor."

"Seeing that, I immediately opened the car door and tried to climb onto the metal roof [right on the ground floor of block 12A] to catch her in case she falls."

“After I just climbed onto the roof of about 2m high, I saw the baby falling."

"At that time, I slipped, but tried to extend my hands forward to reach out."

“Luckily, the baby fell into my arms. Both the baby and I fell down and slammed into the metal roof."

Another video culled from security camera footage showed the man climbing onto the metal roof, slipping, but extending his arms out to break the girls fall.

The impact of the child's fall appeared to have dented the roof after she was caught by the man.

Manh said blood was flowing out of the toddler’s mouth after the fall.

He brought the child to ground level.

Some residents then rushed the toddler to hospital.

The toddler suffered broken arms and legs, but her condition was reportedly stable.

Manh suffered a sprain after the incident.

“My daughter is around her age," he said.

"Even though I had a sprain, it felt like I was able to do something meaningful.”