Four-year-old child rescued from the roof of an apartment building in Dortmund

Rescue via the turntable ladder

Family members were cared for by the rescue service and the psychosocial emergency response team and were taken to a hospital as a precaution. The psychosoziale Notfallversorgung (PSNV) cares for people who have witnessed accidents or distressing situations.

In Dortmund, a child made their way unnoticed onto the roof of an apartment building and put themselves in life-threatening danger. Exactly how the child was able to get onto the roof will nevertheless be the subject of further investigations.

Support for relatives

Police in Dortmund were on the scene to secure the area around the building and support the rescue operation. At the time of the incident, no other persons were in acute danger, according to the fire department.

The incident occurred on Monday afternoon — outside regular school hours — at a residential building in Dortmund. The exact circumstances under which the window had been left open remained initially unclear.

Background and investigations

The fire department emphasized that the operation proceeded smoothly thanks to the rapid alert. The turntable ladder and jump cushion had been operational within just a few minutes. Officers spoke of Glück im Unglück.

No information was initially released about the child's condition following the hospital stay. Police also provided no further details regarding the supervision situation in the apartment at the time of the incident.

The incident was disseminated via the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). The authorities announced that they would review the case afterward in order to prevent similar situations in the future.