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Rescued boy doing 'very well'
03/09/2007 12:41 - (SA)
Verashni Pillay
Johannesburg - Hospital staff were confident on Monday that the little boy who fell from an escalator into the arms of a waiter was out of possible danger.
The child was doing "very well", and had been in a stable condition since Sunday, Netcare Garden City clinic spokesperson Shainaaz Mustapha told News24.
The pre-schooler, whose name has not been released, was feared to have had a neck and head injury after he fell between 6m and 8m from the first floor of the Cresta shopping centre in Johannesburg on Saturday evening.
"The first thing we look at in a fall is a head, neck or back injury," Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollmann told News24. "We have a saying that wherever there is a head injury, there's a neck injury."
But Dollmann confirmed that the boy, who was taken to the paediatric ICU of Netcare Garden City clinic, had fractured his left eye socket, and had no other injuries.
The child was on morphine to ease the pain, and hospital staff were hoping to move him to a general ward soon.
Waiter to the rescue
Jericho Sithole, a 26-year-old waiter at the Golden Spear Spur was standing outside the restaurant when he saw the boy climbing up the escalator. Realising that the boy was in danger, he moved towards him, and was able to break the child's fall, by trying to catch him.
An off-duty Netcare rescue services worker who heard people screaming rushed out of a restaurant to help Sithole and the boy. He stabilised the boy until ambulances arrived.
According to Dollmann, the child was screaming and shouting when they arrived. "That's always a good sign, it would be worse if he was quiet."
The child's parents personally thanked Sithole for saving their son.
Management at the Golden Spear Spur confirmed that Sithole had not been hurt.
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