VIDEO: Child has narrow escape after being hit by car

A four-year-old boy had a miraculous escape when he was hit by a runaway car and sent flying through the air.

The child, Muhammet Dirlik, was playing in the street when a fast-moving vehicle flew into him and knocked him down a flight of steps. The car then landed inches from the boy.

The whole incident, which happened in Sanliurfa, Turkey, was caught on CCTV footage and broadcast on Turkish television.

The car hit the child before crashing through the front window of a shop. The child who can be seen flying through the air then picked himself up and walked away.

The boy's father Ibrahim Halil Dirlik said: "We understood that there was an accident when we heard the noise.

"I saw my son coming towards me crying. We were not aware that he had been hit by the car.

"We thought that he just freaked out and was crying because the car had crashed into the shop. We only realised the next day that the car hit my son."

The driver has reportedly said he swerved to avoid running over a puppy and lost control of the car.