2 Children Plummet 3 Stories From North Bergen, N.J. Apartment Window
NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Two children were hospitalized Tuesday night, after falling three stories from their apartment window.
As CBS 2's Jessica Schneider reported, the screen was still hanging open from the window inside apartment 3B, in a building at 7400 John F. Kennedy Blvd. East. People in the area were sent into a panic when the children fell from the window shortly before 8 p.m.
The children plummeted onto a hard concrete landing.
"That's any parent's worst nightmare," said Maya Sauod, who lives across the street with her parents.
Saoud's family heard the screams for help.
"We saw two kids laying still on the ground not moving, and we saw a woman who might have been their mother running and crying towards them," Saoud said.
A neighbor said the two young children -- a 4-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl -- live in apartment from which they fell.
The children saw their friends playing outside and pushed against the screen, falling through and dropping 22 feet down, authorities said.
"We didn't know it was serious until the mother came out screaming and yelling," said neighbor Faouzi Saoud, who added that they were not moving and were "just laying on the ground."
Police were on the scene late Tuesday night, and detectives were to remain to take more pictures and piece together the details of the three-story fall.
"I was crying, and I see the mother screaming," said Christina Saoud. "I have kids so I feel very sad for her."
The parents were home at the time of the accident were with the children Tuesday night, police said.
The children were initially taken to Jersey City Medical Center, and later transferred to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, police said. The 4-year-old boy's condition had stabilized, but the 5-year-old girl was in critical condition, police said.
Police said it was a good sign that the children were able to be transferred.
There were no guards on the window. Under New Jersey law, it is up to the tenant to request the guards from the landlord.
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