A 3-year-old girl was rescued by her neighbour after she was dragged across a road by a wild monkey in southern China.

Footage filmed on April 19 shows the girl playing in front of her house in Chongqing when a monkey almost as tall as her approached her from behind and quickly dragged her away.

Liu, the rescuer, said he was sitting at home when he heard a girl crying outside. He went out and saw the monkey dragging the girl away. He immediately ran after the monkey and grabbed the girl.

"I was playing on my phone when I heard a girl crying outside," Liu says on camera (at 00:44 secs). "Then I saw the monkey caught the girl. Immediately I ran over and grabbed the girl back from the monkey."

The girl's face had been scratched by the monkey. She was shocked but physically fine.

The girl's mother, also named Liu (no relation), says on camera at (00 26 secs): "It's all thanks to my neighbour that I was able to get my child back from the monkey. I am very grateful to him. Otherwise I couldn't imagine the consequences."

There’s a mountain around 40 to 50 metres away from the residential area where the incident occurred. The wild monkey was estimated to have come from that mountain. Police, forestry authorities and the local village committee all came to find the wild monkey but no trace was found.

Chengkou county government told Beijing Youth Daily: “We think there is a group of wild monkeys in the mountains nearby, but the exact number is not clear.”

“We are trying to catch the wild monkey in order to prevent it from hurting people again. We will also remind residents of preventing the same incident to happen again and will strengthen patrols nearby.“

The video was provided by local media with permission.

A three-year-old girl was rescued by her neighbour after she was dragged away by a wild monkey in southern China, suffering from slight injury.

TRANSCRIPT (Mandarin)
[00:24] Voices [off camera] watching the CCTV footage say, "Oh my goodness."

[00:26] Girl's mother, surname Liu,: It all depends on my neighbour to get my kid back from the monkey's hand. I am very grateful to him. Otherwise I couldn't imagine the consequence.

[00:44] The neighbour, also surnamed Liu: I was playing on my phone when I heard a girl crying outside. Then I saw the monkey caught the girl. Immediately I ran over and grabbed the girl back from the monkey.