This is the nail-biting moment an 85-year-old man dangles upside down from a window above a 150ft drop with his ankle tied to a bed sheet.

Horrified passers-by spotted the man hanging out of his high-rise apartment window with his foot apparently stuck in a window frame in the city of Shaoguan, Guangdong province, southern China.

And while some called emergency services, others let themselves into the flat and tied sheets around his ankle to stop him from falling.

One of the rescuers – named as Ms Yang – told local media that she was passing by while shopping for food.

After seeing the old man hanging upside down she immediately called the emergency services.

Then she called a young man and a woman from the next building to rush upstairs to the man’s rescue.

Ms Yang recalled that as she was walking towards the shops, she noticed a person seemingly hanging from the window of a tall building.

She explained: “Because the window opening was very small, we couldn’t pull the old man up.”

According to Ms Yang, the old man was still conscious at the time, but he kept groaning and couldn’t talk.

Ms Yang said: “Although it was only a few minutes, I was very nervous, and I was always afraid that the old man would fall.”

The old man had just undergone brain surgery, according to local media.

After the police and firefighters arrived at the scene, the old man’s daughter also rushed home and thanked the rescuers.