Teenager arrested after child, six, thrown from 10th floor at Tate Modern

A woman screamed 'he's my son' as a child fell from a tenth floor balcony at the Tate Modern after the child was allegedly pushe.

Police have arrested a teenager after the six-year-old boy was thrown from a viewing platform at the art gallery in London.

The victim is in a critical condition in hospital after being found on a fifth floor roof, the Metropolitan Police said.

The 17-year-old male suspect had remained with members of the public on the 10th floor viewing platform after the incident on Sunday afternoon, the force said.

They added that there is nothing to suggest that he is known to the victim.

An eyewitness, told The Mirror: "I heard the impact and then screaming from above as a woman screamed 'He's my son! He's my son!'.

"I went inside because the screaming was horrific, the boy didn't make any noise but the people from the viewing platform were screaming."

Officers had been called to the gallery at around 2.40pm and the child was treated at the scene before being flown to hospital by London's Air Ambulance.

Visitors reported on social media not being allowed in or out of the gallery while emergency services dealt with the incident.

Scotland Yard said a number of members of the public are assisting police with witness statements and visitors to the gallery have been allowed to leave.

BBC journalist Jonny Dymond, who was in the gallery at the time, said visitors were funnelled into a main hall while all exits were closed.

He added: "There were quite a lot of families with children, and security guards told us we couldn't leave.

"There were at least two fire engines, 10 police cars and an incident control unit.

"Parts of the exterior of the building were taped off."

Greg Ritchie posted a picture of the helicopter on Twitter, saying: "Nobody being allowed in or out of the Tate Modern for the last 20 minutes.

"Plenty of police and ambulances arriving, and a helicopter just landed. Not clear what's happened."

He later said on Twitter that, after the air ambulance took off, the doors were being opened to allow visitors who had been kept inside the building to leave.

A London Ambulance service spokesman: "We treated a person at the scene and took them to hospital as a priority."

The Tate confirmed that it would be closed for the rest of Sunday.

The Tate Modern was the UK's most popular tourist attraction in 2018 after being visited 5.9 million times, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

With the schools having broken up and holiday season begun, there are likely to have been thousands of visitors to the gallery on Sunday.