A baby who fell from a first floor flat’s window has been taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Bedfordshire Police said the emergency services were called at around 1pm on Thursday to reports that a baby had fallen from an open window in Wellington Street, Luton, and had been taken to hospital.

The baby’s age and sex were not revealed by police, who also described the casualty as a “toddler” in a statement.

Builder Albert Popescu, 32, a builder from Luton, told how he was in Wellington Street at around 1pm when he heard a woman screaming.

He told PA: “I was standing outside when I heard screams from a woman, who I saw was in the window directly above India Gardens.

“Then I looked and saw a baby in grey pyjamas on the pavement. Then the woman, who I think was the baby’s mother, came down and shouted ‘help me, help me’.

“We all gathered round while we saw the baby being put on its shoulders by a man. There was silence for a minute or two, before the baby started crying.

“I saw blood coming from its nose. It was horrible, I couldn’t watch it.

“I started crying, so I left. I hadn’t seen anything like it. It was shocking.”

His wife Rodica, 34, said: “I stood there for 30 minutes. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”

George Feron, 44, manager of Luton Market, which is across the road from the incident, said: “I was in the shop at around 1pm, serving a customer and I saw girls from the agency from across the road. They were out, and I saw their faces were in complete shock.

“I walked out from the shop and there were a lot of people. Then I saw the baby. Blood was on his face and the side of its head. I was really sad. It was a very cute kid.

“The mum was screaming. She couldn’t speak English, she was speaking in Romanian, I think. Another lady was interpreting the Romanian to everyone else. Then within a few minutes the ambulance and police were outside.”

He added: “It was really amazing to see everyone come together to help this woman. People in the street gathered round her, were holding her. They stood around for around two, three hours. I have lived here for 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like it in this town.”

Jason Watkins, 19, who works at the Nakorn Thai Restaurant on Wellington Street, said he had been told it was a boy who had been hurt.

“Someone told me it was a one to three-year-old child [that] fell out of a window,” he said.

Watkins added: “Apparently he was playing by the window, he pushed against [it] and fell.”

Ganga Kandel, 43, a manager at nearby Papa J’s Indian Tapas Restaurant, said part of the road was blocked off by police after the incident.

“There were three, four police cars on the street,” he said.

Officers are asking anyone who was in the area at the time or who witnessed the incident to contact police on 101 quoting reference 180.