Orlando: British tourist saves toddler in four-storey fall

By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Florida | Fri Apr 22, 2011 (Reuters) -

A small child survived a fall from a fourth-floor hotel balcony when a British tourist caught the 16-month girl in the pool area below, police said on Thursday.

Helen Beard, of Worksop, told investigators she was at the pool of a hotel in Orlando shortly after 11 p.m. on Wednesday when she saw a child hanging from the balcony.

Beard ran to a spot directly under the dangling toddler and watched as she fell, striking the third-floor balcony on her way down.

Beard, 44, said she caught Jah-Nea Myles and broke her fall before the child slipped from her arms and hit the ground.

"I'm thanking the Lord above right now for saving my child's life. I'm also thanking that lady because she was an angel sent from heaven," said the child's mother Helena Myles.

Paramedics took Jah-Nea to the hospital.

"She's perfectly fine. Not a scratch on her body," her mother said.

Myles told investigators that she left her daughter in the care of friends, who said they didn't notice Jah-Nea slip out onto the balcony, the Orange County Sheriff's office said.