Luan Vaz Moraes: Boy, 3, dies after falling from fourth floor of shopping center in front of horrified dad
CRUZ ALTA, BRAZIL: A 3-year-old boy, Luan Vaz Moraes, died after falling from the 4th floor of the Erico Veríssimo shopping center in Cruz Alta, Brazil, on Monday in front of his horrified father.
The local fire department said that the boy fell from the fourth floor and landed in the basement.
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The fire department added that emergency services rushed to the scene around 2:30 p.m. and found Luan with extremely serious injuries. Although Luan was immediately taken to Sao Vicente de Paulo Hospital, unfortunately, he did not survive and died shortly thereafter.
According to local reports, the boy was at the mall with his father and the two were in town as tourists. Before the tragic incident occurred, Luan and his father were walking through the mall while the duo waited for a bus. His parents had split up and his mother did not know her son was at the mall at the time of his death. According to a report by the Mirror, she said: "He was with his dad, he came for a walk because he has relatives here just like I do. The only thing I didn't know is that he was going to the mall with Luan. He came to take the tour here and this accident ended up happening."
The Cruz Alta authorities are probing how Luan ended up falling and investigating to determine whether there was any negligence or it was just a tragedy. Mario Bisso Otero, the owner of the shopping center, extended his condolences to the family and promised to collaborate with the investigation.
Unfortunately, this incident happened after another toddler tragically died after falling from the 29th-floor balcony of a New York apartment building. As the tragic incident unfolded, the distraught mother of the three-year-old reportedly screamed “my baby, my baby” from the street below.
The child's lifeless body was discovered on scaffolding on the third floor after the police responded to a 911 call at the Taino Towers residential complex in Harlem. The boy, who was wearing a diaper and a yellow T-shirt, was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, the authorities said.
Another similar incident happened in Denver last year when a 2-year-old boy slipped out of his father's arms and fell from the second floor of a suburban Denver mall and died.
As per the Denver Post reports, the father was holding his son at the top of an escalator at the Town Center of Aurora, when the boy pushed forward and fell to the first floor. Although no further information was released, the Aurora police said, "it appears the fall was an accident."