Watch terrifying moment Chinese toddler falls from 5th-floor balcony ... onto quilt held up by neighbours below

A Chinese toddler playing hide-and-seek escaped unhurt after falling from a fifth-floor balcony when he was caught in a bed quilt held up by quick-thinking residents on the street below, mainland media reports.

Dramatic video footage, which has been widely shared on mainland social media, captured the moment when the boy named Xiaojing, aged one and a half, fell from the apartment balcony on Tuesday and was caught in the quilt in the city of Dongguan in the southern province of Guangdong, Dongguan Television Station reported on Wednesday.

Xiaojing was spotted out on the balcony alone by his grandmother’s neighbours, after he locked his grandmother out of the room at her home where they were playing hide-and-seek together.

Police were called and asked neighbours to hold out four quilts on the street below the balcony to catch him in case he fell.

Xiaojing escaped without injury after falling onto one of the quilts, just as police had arrived at the building to try to reach him on the balcony.