This is the nerve-jangling moment when a girl struggles to get back through a skylight after climbing out onto the roof 170ft above a sheer drop to the ground.

Footage – shot by a neighbour in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, northern China – shows the child groping desperately for a handhold to hoist himself through the frame.

The neighbour can be heard shouting across the distance, urging the youngster to go back inside.

It ends with the little girl eventually scrambling back through the skylight and pulling it shut behind her.

The neighbour later uploaded the footage to social media as a warning to other parents.

Among the many comments, people reminded that parents should fit child safety locks to skylights on high buildings to prevent similar dangerous incidents.