'Miracle' survival of 16-year-old who fell eight floors

THE grandfather of a 16-year-old boy who broke his back and both arms and legs when he plunged eight floors from a tower block today described his survival as a miracle.

Jack Quane plummeted 80 feet as he tried to escape a group of four boys by climbing up the balconies of a block of flats in Bethnal Green.

He has undergone four operations, which have included putting two plates in his back, and is set for a fifth because of damage to his spleen.

He fell from Stockton House in Ellsworth Street and his grandfather, Patrick Quane, 80, said today: "It's an absolute miracle he survived, a real one-off miracle.

"He came out of intensive care last night and is now in a high-dependency unit. I have spoken to him but he just stares back at you. His father is in a terrible state and his mother is devastated. We are just thankful he is still with us. I don't know what happened, no one has said, but we are trying to find out."

Residents in Stockton House said that Jack used to live there but moved in with his sister in nearby Teesdale Street after his parents moved to Essex because they thought the area was dangerous.

Before the accident on 27 December Jack had been drinking with friends and one resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "He was in the block with a few mates and they were drinking.

"The next I saw four guys come into the block . That group chased him and the next thing I knew he had fallen and was on the ground."

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "While a number of youths were fighting in a stairwell, a 16-year-old boy climbed a balcony, in an apparent attempt to escape and slipped." Three teenagers, between 15 and 17, were arrested and released on police bail.