A two-year-old toddler fell 15ft from a church balcony in front of horrified families during a school leaving service.

The little girl was attending an end-of-term school service at St John's Church in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, on Tuesday when she plunged from the upper floor balcony.

Shocked school pupils, their families and guests who were attending the leaving service for Woodside Primary School's primary seven pupils could only watch as the two-year-old tumbled to the ground floor.

Miraculously, the girl only suffered minor injuries in the fall.

A parent sitting downstairs is believed to have rushed to the tot's aid at around 11am.

But it's unclear how or why the toddler was upstairs or whether any adult was with her upstairs.

Ambulance crews rushed to the church and took the youngster to the hospital for treatment.

An onlooker said: "One of the parents, who was downstairs, rushed to help the child and two ambulances arrived.

"The children from the school were quite close to the incident and got a fright."

The entire school were in attendance, including parents of children leaving the school this week at the end of term.

Jim Gilhooly, executive director of Education Resources at South Lanarkshire Council, said: "The school and council are of course aware of this and our thoughts and best wishes go to the child and family, who must have been severely shaken by this incident.

"We wish them well."

Reverend Joanne Hood, minister at St John's Church in Hamilton, was conducting the service when the incident happened.

She said: "Our thoughts at St John's are with the little girl and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery.

"I'm also thinking of the school staff, pupils and the wider community. I'm sure they will also be sharing our concern for the family."

A Church of Scotland spokesman said yesterday (Thu) that some members of the girl's family were with her upstairs at the time of the incident.

But he said it remains unclear how the girl was able to get free from their care and fall down from the balcony.