USGSA Hawaii national park has issued a new warning to hikers after a toddler was caught “just in time” to fall from the edge of an erupting volcano.
The little boy turned away from his family and “in a split second ran straight to the 400-foot cliff edge” of the Kilauea volcano, the park said.
“His mother, screaming, managed to grab him,” the park added in its statement, when the toddler was “only about a foot away from a fatal fall.”
Park ranger Jessica Ferracain, who witnessed the incident, told the BBC she hoped sharing details of the incident would help “prevent future tragedies”.
Kilauea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
It erupts regularly, and the last eruption began on December 23 with lava in the photo gushes to the surface.
The eruption continues at a low level in a closed area of the national park, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in its last update on Saturday.
The park said the incident happened on Christmas Day in a closed area of the park where families had gathered to watch the lava.
It was in an area overlooking the caldera – the volcano's large crater – and the boy would not have survived the fall, Ms Ferracan said.
Park rangers said they want to remind visitors to stay on the trail and out of closed areas and to keep their children close.
“Those who ignore warnings, walk past closure signs, lose track of loved ones and sneak into closed areas to get a closer look do so at great risk.”
Ms Ferracane added: “We hope that sharing the news will prevent future tragedies and threats.”