Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment a young boy left at home alone is seen dangling by his neck outside the burglar bars of his family’s 4th-floor balcony before neighbours break in to rescue him.

The heart-stopping footage was filmed by several of the boy’s neighbours, who were in the end able to break into his home and rescue him before the authorities arrived.

The incident happened at a residential building on Zhongxing 4th Road in the city of Xinyi in China’s southern Guangdong Province on 23rd February.

Picture Credits: AsiaWire

Shocking footage shows the young boy, who was described as being around three years of age, hanging outside the fourth-floor balcony – just out of reach of his neighbours.

The boy had reportedly been left at home alone and went looking for his guardians when he climbed the balcony and slipped, with the metal bars then catching his neck while the rest of his body hung dangerously over the ledge.

Concerned neighbours and other local residents said they tried screaming and shouting to alert the boy’s parents, but no one responded.

Neighbours can be seen holding an advertising banner on the ground floor as a makeshift cushion in case the weakening boy slipped through the bars and plunged to the ground.

Others charged upstairs and managed to break through the locked front door of the boy’s home, rescuing him.

According to reports, arriving police later took the child to hospital.

He is not believed to be in any life-threatening condition.

Local authorities have not revealed how long it took for the boy’s guardians to show up – if at all.

It is illegal for minors to be left at home unsurprised, and his parents could face charges of negligence if the boy is found to have been harmed as a result.