Museum panic as boy, 6, is thrown

A TEENAGE boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a six-year-old was thrown from a viewing platform at the Tate Modern art gallery in London.

The boy’s mum screamed “he’s my son” after he plunged from the 10th floor at the central London gallery yesterday.

Police said the victim was found on a fifth floor roof, where he was treated before being taken to hospital by air ambulance.

The suspect – who is not known to the victim – remained with bystanders at the scene and was then arrested.

Police said the victim remained in a “critical condition” in hospital and his family was being supported by officers.

The museum was evacuated and remained closed for the rest of the day after the shocking incident, which happened in the Blavatnik Building of the Tate Modern.

“I heard the impact and then screaming from above as a woman screamed ‘he’s my son, He’s my son, ” one witness said. “I went inside because the screaming was horrific, the boy didn’t make any noise but the people from the viewing platform were screaming.”

Admin worker Nancy Barnfield, 47, was at the 10th floor viewing gallery with a friend and their children when her friend heard a “loud bang”.

Ms Barnfield said she turned around and saw the “hysterical” woman screaming: “Where’s my son, where’s my son?” Members of the public quickly gathered around a man who was nearby, she added.

She said the person, who was restrained by members of the public before the police arrived, “just stood there and was quite calm”.

Another bystander, Reetta Sahlman, 34, who arrived two minutes before the commotion broke out, said: “People were waiting outside, they said

THE BOY DIDN’T MAKE ANY NOISE BUT THE PEOPLE FROM THE VIEWING PLATFORM WERE SCREAMING

WITNESS

they’d heard someone screaming. They said he didn’t fall all the way down onto the grass.

“Someone said they heard yelling and then the helicopter landed. I was there when someone was carrying out the stretcher with a body. We didn’t know what condition he was in.”

Lucy Evans, 29, and Tom Reid, 26, both of whom were at the Tate Modern, said: “We were inside on the third floor when it happened. We saw they were stopping people from going in. We heard someone fell from the balcony.

“What happened is shocking. You wouldn’t expect this in a museum.”