Boy, 6, stable after Tate horror plunge
A MOTHER who was nearby when a sixyear-old boy was thrown from a 10th-floor viewing platform at the Tate Modern art gallery said the incident was “terrifying”.
The child is in a London hospital after being found on a fifth-floor roof at the world-famous attraction.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the boy is “no longer in a life-threatening situation”, adding: “He is critical, but stable.”
A 17-year-old male suspect remains in custody on suspicion of attempted murder.
The teenager had remained with members of the public on the 10th-floor viewing platform after the incident on Sunday afternoon, police said.
They added there was nothing to suggest that he is known to the victim.
Officers had been called to the gallery at around 2.40pm and the child was treated at the scene before being flown to hospital by London’s Air Ambulance.
Olga Malehevska was on the viewing platform with her four-year-old son when the incident took place and described what happened as “absolutely terrifying”.
The journalist, from Ukraine, said: “I was standing on the balcony with my little one and he was touching the fence and we were making pictures.”
She said she then heard a noise and there was some pushing. She pointed out that the platform was not overcrowded.
“I just felt like something is going on, I should take my child out of there immediately and we tried to go towards the exit,” she said.
Ms Malehevska said she could hear people say “Oh my God, the boy dropped”, and also saw a woman crying, shaking and shouting “oh my son, my son”.
She said they were all kept inside the building for around an hour and 20 minutes.
Ms Malehevska said she was amazed at how quickly the emergency services arrived. She said it would not be possible for a child to climb the fence on the platform or jump through it.
A small group of tourists gathered outside the entrance of the Tate Modern ahead of it opening its doors at 10am yesterday. A number of them were aware of the incident on Sunday.
A photocall for a new exhibition which had been due to take place yesterday morning was postponed.
Police said a number of members of the public are assisting police with witness statements.
Administration worker Nancy Barnfield, 47, of Rochdale, was at the 10th-floor viewing gallery with a friend and their children when her friend heard a “loud bang”.
She said the person who was restrained by members of the public before the police arrived “just stood there and was quite calm”.
The Tate Modern was the UK’s most popular tourist attraction in 2018 after being visited 5.9 million times, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.