12-Year-Old Plunges To Death From 9th Floor While Trying To Rescue Puppy

A 12-year-old girl has died after falling from a ninth-floor balcony while attempting to rescue her pet dog who was stuck between the barrier's iron grills.

The tragic incident took place Wednesday at a residential complex in Ghaziabad, a city in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The girl, identified as Jyotsna Sharma, was playing with her pet dog inside her room while her mother was busy in the kitchen. The 4 to 5-month old puppy suddenly ran out onto the apartment's balcony, where it got stuck between two iron rods of the balcony's barrier.

Every time the minor tried to pull the dog out of the barrier from behind, its head would get stuck. In a bid to save her pet, she climbed on the barrier to get to the other side, hoping she could finally pull the puppy out by its head.

"With one hand, she held on to a nylon net which had been put up in the balcony to prevent pigeons and other birds from entering the flat. With the other, she was trying to pull out the dog," Veerpal Singh Tomar, a family friend, told The Times of India.

When she slipped, the nylon net she was holding on to started to come off its hinges. The girl reportedly hung on the balcony for a few seconds while holding on to the puppy's head with her other hand. She cried out for help but her mother, who came to the rescue, could not reach her.

At one point, the puppy's head got dislodged and the pet was released from the barrier. It was then that the two fell from the ninth floor onto the road below the building.

"The girl and her pet lay there, motionless. There was blood all over," Devendra Kumar, the security guard of the building, said as per The Times of India. Kumar was working at his desk when he heard the loud noise caused by the girl and her pet's fall. He went to check the source of the sound along with other residents of the building.

The girl was rushed to hospital, where she was declared dead, reported the Indian Express. Meanwhile, the dog died at the scene.

The family of the minor did not file a police complaint and refused to get an autopsy done. The police cleared the fall of any suspicion and said it was an accident.

Earlier this week, a 1-year-old child plunged to death from the 12th-floor staircase to the basement of a residential complex in the Indian city of Noida. The boy, identified as Baby Riwaan, crawled out of their flat while his parents were busy preparing for his birthday celebration. The incident has sparked a debate on high-rise buildings and their safety.