These images show a child running into a busy street and skidding under a van that screeches to a halt as its owner breaks to avoid him, but the youth miraculously escapes uninjured.

He narrowly avoids being run over by the van’s rear right wheel and eventually gets to his feet and saunters off while rubbing his apparently bruised posterior.

The incident took place in the city of Suzhou, which is located in Anhui Province, in eastern China, on Tuesday, 18th January.

CCTV footage of the incident was posted online, where it quickly made the rounds on Chinese social media, including Douyin, which is what TikTok is called in China.

The footage starts with the young boy, who is apparently playing with some friends on the pavement by a busy street, running out into the road, apparently without checking first to see if there are any vehicles coming.

At the last second, he appears to notice an oncoming van and he stops dead in his tracks, but he trips on the tarmac and lands hard on his bottom as the van brakes in a desperate bid to avoid running him over.

Luckily for the young boy, who has not been named but who appears to be about 12 years old, the van screeches to a halt, with only its rear right wheel brushing against the boy’s leg and miraculously not running him over.

A man gets out of the van to check on the boy, who can be seen lying on the road, apparently in shock, before he gingerly gets to his feet with the help of the man from the van.

He can be seen walking away, visibly embarrassed, rubbing his posterior.

A local shop owner, named as Mr Wang, said that the boy had been playing outside with some friends and after the incident, he left the scene uninjured.

It is currently unclear if the police are investigating the incident.