A Queensland school leaver has suffered a fractured pelvis after falling from a balcony while trying to retrieve some cigarettes on the Gold Coast.
The 17-year-old is believed to have leant over the balcony at a Surfers Paradise apartment when he fell two floors at around 3:30am on Thursday.
He was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital where he remains in a stable condition, but police say he is fortunate the incident was not far more serious.
"He is very lucky," Senior Sergent Laurie Shevlin said.
"I can only assume that if it happened at a much higher elevation - even about the fifth or sixth floor - we could be looking at an entirely different outcome."
Television footage showed the boy awake and alert being taken away in an ambulance.
A witness has described the incident as scary.
"My mate just ran inside and said that Kai had fallen out of the balcony and I ran out and looked down and he was just screaming," he told the Nine Network.
"I told the security guard and then the security guard took us down and there was blood everywhere. It was pretty scary."
No charges have been laid over the incident, and police are continuing to investigate whether alcohol was a factor.
Two schoolies and two 16-year-old boys were also caught balcony hopping in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The four were seen moving between balconies on the 22nd floor of a Surfers Paradise hotel around 5am.
They were given $243 infringement notices for high risk activities and evicted from the hotel.
The incidents have reopened the debate whether balconies should be shut off by hotel administration for schoolies.
Snr Sgt Shevlin said that decision was not a matter for police to consider, but reminded schoolies to be mindful of their safety.
"Don't get involved in these high-risk activities that could potentially be fatal."
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also said the government would not interfere in matters regarding the closure of balconies.
"I'm not going to get into the business of policing individual hotels," she said. "But I do ask all of our young people who are enjoying Schoolies please behave responsibly."
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