"Miracle" of Parisian toddler surviving seven-storey fall - where were the parents?

You might remember the tale of the 18-month-old "miracle baby" who fell from the seventh floor of a building in Paris on Monday afternoon, but survived the fall unharmed after he landed in the arms of a passerby.

It was a story that made the national headlines of television, press and radio.

Tabac le Vincennes - awning which broke the toddler's fall (screenshot BFM television)

The accumulation of events made it even more of a miracle than it at first appeared; the boy's fall being broken by the awning of a café closed for All Saints Day holiday, the fact that the awning should have been folded, but the device for closing it hadn't been working the day before, and of course the passerby, Philippe Bensignor, who happened to be on hand to catch the boy in his arms.

Dr. Philippe Bensignor who caught the 18-month-old toddler (screenshot France 2 television)

But but one vital question remains unanswered. Where were the child's parents?

The toddler had been playing with his three-year-old sister before the incident, but apparently they had been left alone in the apartment for at least a couple of hours.

"When we managed to get into the apartment we looked around to see whether the children's mother was home," Samia Benmoussa, a neighbour in the same building told Europe 1 national radio.

"There was nobody else apart from the little girl crying."

The parents had reportedly been out 'taking a walk" and only returned a couple of hours after the afternoon's drama.

Police took the couple in for questioning and they remained in custody until Wednesday morning before being released to appear before a court in two months to face charges of "neglect and unintentional injury".

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"Miracle" baby survives seven storey fall in Paris

If you need one of those uplifting "miraculous" type of tales to brighten up your November day as you go about your business, then this is surely one to do it.

On Monday an 18-month-old boy fell from the seventh floor of a building in Paris.

But the toddler survived unharmed after the fall was broken by a restaurant awning before landing in the arms of a passerby.

It was an extraordinary turn of events that took just a matter of seconds to play out and was more than a double dose of luck for the toddler who had, according to reports, been left alone just for a few moments with a young sister playing on the apartment's small balcony.

But a few moments was all it took for events to unfold.

At one point, according to witnesses, the boy got a little too close to the edge and slipped, before falling.

It was at that precise moment that the "saviour" happened to be around, although he was more than humble in his explanation of what occurred, telling reporters that it had been his son who had alerted him to the danger.

"My son told me he could see a young child playing on the balustrade just outside of the apartment," Philippe Bensignor told reporters.

"And just as he said that, the child fell and bounced off the awning (of the café underneath) and I was able to catch it without any problem."

"It was like catching a rugby ball," he continued.

"It really was pure chance."

And the hero's profession? A doctor, who just happened to be in the area walking with his wife and son.

Emergency services arrive (screenshot from "Le Parisien" video)

After checking that the child was unscathed he handed him over to the emergency services who had arrived on the scene and it was taken to a nearby hospital for a full check-up.

Flight quarantined for two hours following false alarm

Passengers aboard a flight from the Portuguese capital Lisbon to the southwestern French city of Toulouse found themselves in quarantine when they arrived at their destination - the reason, a suspected case of cholera aboard the 'plane.

But in reality it turned out to be a false alarm caused by a misunderstanding between one of the passengers and a member of the cabin crew, and a system of "coping" with a potential crisis that took on a dynamic of its own.

A Portugalia Embraer 145 (image from Wikipedia, author - Bthebest)

It all began half an hour after take off when a passenger aboard the scheduled flight, operated by Portugal's national airline TAP, felt unwell and made his way to the loo.

Concerned for his state of health, a member of the cabin crew attempted to find out what wrong.

And that was when the problems really started.

The stewardess, who reportedly didn't speak a word of French, misunderstood what the passenger - himself a doctor - had said.

Somehow she confused his explanation of "having a simple stomach ache" as being a "suspected case of cholera" and she took the appropriate action by informing the captain.

It was, of course, a false alarm, but one which quickly took on a life of its own.

The passenger was confined to the back of the 'plane, the cabin crew donned the obligatory masks, no food was served for the duration of the flight and the authorities in Toulouse were alerted.

In the meantime another doctor aboard confirmed the passenger's self-diagnosis, but that could not prevent the 'plane being greeted on landing by the emergency services and a two-hour quarantine being place while investigations were conducted.

It was, as Françoise Souliman, the secretary general of the préfecture of the département of Haute Garonne, explained afterwards, a false alarm based on a simple misunderstanding, but one which had required appropriate action.

But that perhaps was little consolation for the passengers who were reportedly offered no explanation throughout the flight and must have been more than a little concerned when, on arrival, they saw the emergency services board the 'plane.