Family compensated after boy killed by falling window

The family of a 5-year-old boy who was killed in June by a glass window that fell from an apartment building in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has received 2 million yuan ($283,000) in compensation, according to a local media report.

The compensation was paid jointly. The owner of the apartment paid 1.8 million yuan, and the tenant who lived in it gave 200,000 yuan, a report by Shenzhen Television said.

The boy was hit by a falling glass window from a 20th-floor apartment in Shenzhen on June 13 while he was on the way to kindergarten with his mother.

He died three days later after treatment in hospital.

The parents of the boy had previously asked for 5 million yuan in compensation, local reports said.

Chinese internet users said better inspections should be carried out to avoid such incidents.

“Two million yuan cannot buy a complete family. No matter how much money is paid, you cannot save a life. Hope this will not happen again,” said a user named Menghuanxiaomini on popular microblogging site Sina Weibo.

“I hope property management companies can arrange for regular inspections and maintenance of windows and other stuff in residential communities,” said another Weibo user named TogethercoffeeYang.

Zhang Yan, head of the property management division at Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau, said his department is preparing to launch initiatives calling on owners’ committees of residential communities to add content about falling objects into their management conventions.

Yang Qin, a deputy to the Shenzhen municipal people’s congress, said Shenzhen is making amendments to its real estate management regulation. “We will strongly recommend putting terms about falling objects into it,” he said.

The subject of falling objects, as well as objects thrown from heights, has caused widespread concern after reports of several incidents that occurred within a month recently.

On June 19 in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a 10-year-old girl was injured by objects thrown from a building by an 8-year-old boy who lives there.

Also in Jiangsu, a 4-year-old boy was killed by falling glass weighing 100 kilograms on June 5.