The boy was said to be looking out of a ninth-floor window at the OYO Metropolitan Hotel when the accident happened
A five-year-old boy who fell to his death from a hotel window in Sheffield on Wednesday is thought to have been an Afghan refugee whose family fled the Taliban just days ago.
The boy reportedly fell 70ft from a window at the OYO Metropolitan Hotel on Blonk Street around 2.30pm, with witnesses saying they heard the boy’s mother screaming in horror as people rushed to help before emergency services arrived.
A fellow refugee at the hotel told YorkshireLive that the family – the boy, his parents and his four siblings, were moved to the hotel four days ago after escaping Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.
The boy’s dad is thought to have worked at the British Embassy in Kabul before the family was relocated to the UK.
The refugee said: “They came here to save their lives and now this has happened. It is so sad.”
The hotel is being used as a place to house refugees from Afghanistan who worked alongside British troops and the British embassy during the conflict in the country.
A guest at the hotel described the scene, saying: “I heard a big loud noise and then a couple of seconds later I heard the mother screaming, ‘my boy!'”
APPEAL: We are appealing for information after a child sadly died in the Blonk Street area of Sheffield yesterday.
It is reported that a five-year-old boy fell from the window of the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel at around 2.30pm.
Read more here: https://t.co/hc7KXDb9U8 pic.twitter.com/2lOwOnLKQp
— South Yorkshire Police (@syptweet) August 19, 2021
Another hotel resident said that the boy fell from the ninth floor. It is thought that he was looking out of a window over the car park when the accident happened. The incident is being investigated but the death is not being treated as suspicious, police have said.
Related links:
Afghan mums throw babies over barbed wire fences and beg soldiers to take them
12 deaths at Kabul airport confirmed as Taliban urges desperate Afghans to return home
First Afghans land in UK after pledge to take in 20,000 refugees
South Yorkshire Police has issued an appeal for information, asking for witnesses to come forward.
A spokesperson said the boy’s family “are being supported by specially trained officers”.
No formal identification has taken place yet, the spokesperson said.
“Officers are now appealing for anyone with information to come forward.”
A Government spokesman said: “We are extremely saddened by the tragic death of a child at a hotel in Sheffield.
“The police are providing support to the family while the investigation continues and we cannot comment further at this time.”
Any witnesses or anyone who may have information to help with the investigation should call 101.
