Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN/Andre Nobrega

This is the moment a girl runs out into the road in front of a moving car and the driver somehow manages to stop just inches before hitting her.

The startling incident occurred in the centre of the municipality of Araucaria in the Brazilian state of Parana and was recorded by a CCTV camera.

In the video, a black Volkswagen can be seen making its down the road in a 40-kph area when a young girl runs out from in front of a parked car.

Picture Credits: CEN

The girl sprints across the road as a boy, identified in reports as her brother, tries to grab her but he loses his grip as the car comes rushing towards them.

The driver slams on the brakes and manages to come to a halt just in front of the girl who runs onto the opposite pavement unharmed.

The brother and the girl’s mother then cross the road, with the mother visibly shaken by the incident and she then picks her daughter up.

Witness Thia Milena said: “Out of nowhere, in a blink of an eye she was crossing and I shouted: ‘Stop, stop!’ When I heard the sound of the car coming, my only reaction was to put my hands to my face and turn my back because I swore a tragedy was going to happen. 

“When I turned around again I saw the little girl running. She was running across the road and I held the door open for her. Her brother and her mother came running and the mother desperately grabbed her.”

Local media report an accident was avoided was avoided as the driver was moving at under the 40-kph (25-mph) limit.

Neither the girl nor the driver have been identified and no injuries were reported in the incident.