A young girl was critically injured Saturday morning after falling off an apartment balcony, paramedics say.

The child fell from an 11th-floor balcony of a building in the 1500 block of Alta Vista Drive, said Kevin Montgomery, commander at the Ottawa Paramedic Service, in an email to CBC.

Paramedics were called to the building at 11:22 a.m.

“It was really traumatic,” said Halima Begum, who was on her own balcony Saturday morning.

Begum said she saw the child on a chair, and not long after saw “something” fall to the ground.

A man walking his dog was the first person to reach the girl, Begum said. The child was still breathing, she told Radio-Canada, but wasn’t moving.

“She was just laying there. She couldn’t move at all,” said Begum, adding she called 911.

‘Absolute tragedy’

It was also difficult for Showaib Chowdhury to witness.

Chowdhury said he saw two children playing on a balcony on the other side of the complex from his building when one of them fell.

“It was pretty shocking,” he said, adding that he has a toddler and is often worried about his child’s safety when they’re on the balcony.

“It’s an absolute tragedy,” said Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr. “My heart is with the family.”

The girl was assessed at the scene before being rushed to CHEO’s emergency department, Montgomery said.

There have been several children injured in falls from Ottawa buildings since the beginning of the year.

One child fell from a balcony in Stittsville at the beginning of June, while a young boy died after falling from an apartment window near the University of Ottawa in April.

Carr said she believes more needs to be done to protect against similar tragedies, including having conversations with building owners and educating tenants about building safety.