RIA Novosti

Drunk man throws two children from 8th floor window in Moscow

12:22 12/11/2009

A drunken 30-year-old military officer threw two eight-year-old girls out of an eighth-floor window of their mother's apartment, a police source said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - A drunken 30-year-old military officer threw two eight-year-old girls out of an eighth-floor window of their mother's apartment, a police source said on Thursday.

"Today at about 1:00 a.m. [22:00 GMT Wednesday] eyewitnesses called police, saying that... a man threw two girls out of an eighth-floor window," the source said.

Both girls survived the fall.

The man was living together with the girls' mother in a civil marriage. The officer, whose identity has not been disclosed, sent the mother of the children a text message that read: "Say good-bye to Dasha and Katya," before throwing the girls out the window.

Dasha and Katya Lapuzina were hospitalized with massive internal injuries following the fall. Dasha was diagnosed with a concussion, five broken ribs and a ruptured liver and is in intensive care. She is on a life support breathing machine, recovering from an operation on her liver.

"We also suspect an injured backbone, but her spinal cord is not affected," a doctor told RIA Novosti.

Her sister, Katya, is in stable condition. Although she was diagnosed with ruptured spleen, she avoided other serious injuries as a tree broke her fall to the ground.

The man has been taken to a police station and is being charged with attempted murder. He is currently being questioned.

No official comments on the incident have been available so far.

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