Four children fell from a fourth-floor balcony in the Bang Kapi district of Bangkok. (Photo grabbed from TV Channel 3)

A five-year-old Thai-Swiss boy died and his three siblings were badly hurt after falling from the fourth floor of a dormitory in Bangkok’s Bang Kapi district in the early hours of Tuesday after their grandmother left them alone.

Responding to an alert at 1.30am, police and rescue workers rushed to the Kesaree dormitory on Soi Ramkhamhaeng 34 in Hua Mak area, where they found four children – two boys and two girls – lying on the ground in front of the five-storey building, said Pol Lt Ratchanon Pengmuen, deputy investigation chief at Hua Mak police station.

All four children – aged 5, 7, 10 and 11 – had sustained serious injuries. Fragments of broken plates and bowls and a damaged tarpaulin were found nearby.  

The children – all siblings – were rushed to Ramkhamhaeng  Hospital, where the youngest boy, 5, was pronounced dead from severe head injuries. The 11-year-old boy and the 7-year-old girl were unconscious and in critical condition after suffering head trauma, while the 10-year-old girl suffered a broken leg and was declared out of danger, Thai media reported on Tuesday.

In the fourth floor room where the children lived, police found that the balcony had been modified, with a wooden plank about two feet long attached to the wall as a draining board for plates. The plank was attached with knots, which police believed may have loosened while the children were sitting on it, tipping the children off the balcony.

Mr Ed Prakaikaew, 68, the children’s grandfather, told police that the four were of mixed Thai-Swiss heritage. His daughter had broken up with her Swiss husband four years ago, he said. The children were identified as Luca Niran Borel, 11, his younger sisters Pamela 10 and Chanida, 7, and younger brother  Khanatcha, 5, who died from his injuries.

The children lived with their mother in the rented room. When she was out at work, he and his wife took care of the children, said Mr Ed.

Before the fatal fall, the grandmother had seen all her grandchildren sleeping. She then locked the door from the outside and left the room pending the return of their mother, said the grandfather.

At around 1.30am, he saw a rescue vehicle entering the soi leading to the building. He went out to investigate, and found his grandchildren lying on the ground with horrific injuries.

Police were investigating.