A TODDLER who plunged five storeys from a tower block is today recovering in hospital - as detectives launch an investigation into what happened.

The two-year-old boy fell from the top floor of the Tuscany House building in Sherwood Close, on the Priory Court Estate in Walthamstow, at around 3.20pm yesterday (Wednesday May 23).

Horrified neighbours feared the worse as they watched paramedics treat the boy at the scene before rushing him to hospital in an air ambulance.

But police said today the boy was later found only to have suffered a fractured arm and broken rib, and should make a full recovery.

It was initially reported he received serious head injuries.

A Met spokeswoman said no arrests had been made "at this early stage".

But she confirmed that the force's Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT), which is based in Woodford Green, is examining the circumstances of the incident.

Neighbours in the block expressed relief at the news.

Zerrin Balta, 18, said: "I didn't see what happened but we heard the boy fell from the top floor.

"We don't know the family very well, I think they have only just moved here.

"I was upset at first but now we've heard he's alright it's very good news."

Mehmet Altintas, a member of staff at the nearby Priory News Convenience Store, said: "A man came in here and said the boy had fallen from an open bathroom window.

"I think there's a couple living in that flat with two children. The woman came here shopping only yesterday.

"They only moved here recently so I don't know them very well, but I have seen her kids playing outside.

"It's very sad what happened, there have been all kinds of rumours, some people were going round saying the boy had died."

Retired Sherwood Close resident John Ware, 77, said: "I saw the air ambulance and I think it's terrible.

"I've lived here about ten years but nothing like that has ever happened in my time here."

No-one was at home when the Guardian visited the flat where the boy is thought to have fallen from, although there appeared to netting around its balcony at the rear of the property.

The boy remains in hospital today (Thursday May 23) and is under observation as a precaution.

A Met spokeswoman said: "We can confirm detectives are investigating following reports of a young child falling from the window of a flat in Waltham Forest.

"Police were called to an address in Sherwood Close after a member of the public reported seeing a child fall five floors to the ground.

"Police, the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance all attended and the child, a boy of two years, was initially treated at the scene."

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