PUBLISHED ONSeptember 23, 2026 9:15 AMBYKoh Xing YingA 15-year-old girl in China died after falling from the fifth floor of her home while throwing a return parcel down to a courier below, with a court ordering the courier company to pay about 296,700 yuan (S$56,561) in compensation.
The ruling, handed down by a local court on Sunday (Sept 20), found that the courier, his employer, the girl's mother and the girl herself shared responsibility for the accident.
The courier company was held liable for 30 per cent of the damages, according to Chinese news outlet Sina.
The incident reportedly happened after the girl's mother, identified as Zhang, bought a pair of jeans online and arranged to return them through a door-to-door courier service.
When the courier, surnamed Liu, arrived at the residential complex, Zhang told him that she would throw the parcel down from her fifth-floor apartment.
After confirming the collection code with Liu, Zhang instructed her 15-year-old daughter, Ma, to throw the parcel downstairs.
Ma stood on a tatami mat and attempted to throw the parcel out of the window but lost her balance and fell from the fifth floor. She died despite attempts to resuscitate her, reported Jiefang Daily.
The court found that Liu had failed to exercise reasonable care by not objecting to the unsafe collection method or warning Zhang against it.
Liu's employer was also held responsible for failing to ensure that its employee complied with safety procedures.
While Liu was found to have breached his duty of care, the court said Zhang bore primary responsibility for her daughter's safety.
It noted that by instructing Ma to throw the parcel from the fifth floor, Zhang should have foreseen the risk of her daughter leaning out of the window.
Ma, who was 15 at the time, was also found to be partly at fault. Given her age and cognitive ability, the court said Ma should have understood the risk of falling from the building.
The company had previously paid Zhang and her husband 200,000 yuan under an agreement signed on Dec 2, 2025.
Following the latest ruling, the company must pay the couple an additional 96,747 yuan, after taking into account the previous payment.
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