The condition of a six-year-old boy allegedly thrown from a 10th-floor viewing platform at Tate Modern in London has improved slightly, but he remains in critical condition, the Metropolitan police said.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after the incident on Sunday afternoon and remains in custody.
The child, who was found on a fifth-floor roof, is in a London hospital.
Photo: AFP
His family were being supported by police, the Met said.
The suspect had remained with members of the public at the Tate after the incident.
There was nothing to suggest he was known to the victim, the police statement said. The mental health of the teenager is one line of inquiry.
Officers were called to the gallery at about 2:40pm on Sunday. The child was treated at the scene before being flown to hospital by the air ambulance.
Visitors were prevented from entering or leaving the gallery while emergency services dealt with the incident.
A Tate Modern spokeswoman said the gallery would open as usual yesterday, but the viewing platform would be closed.
A photocall for a new exhibition, scheduled for yesterday, had been postponed, she said.
The Met said members of the public were providing witness statements.
The journalist Olga Malchevska was on the viewing platform when the boy fell.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast , she said: “I saw that woman who was running and shouting: ‘My son oh my son’ and she was crying desperately.”
An administration worker, Nancy Barnfield of Rochdale, was on the viewing gallery with a friend and their children when her friend heard a “loud bang.”
Barnfield said she turned around and saw a woman screaming: “Where’s my son, where’s my son?”
Members of the public quickly gathered around a man who was nearby, she said.
“We did not notice the mom before; we noticed her after because she was hysterical by then,” Barnfield said.
Labour MP Neil Coyle, whose Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency covers Tate Modern, said the thoughts and prayers of the community were with the boy and his family.
“Tate is working closely with the police to help with their investigations,” a museum spokeswoman said.
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