A 16-year-old German student suffered fractures when he fell a height of four storeys while trying to climb from one balcony to another early yesterday morning.

The teenager was in a position to speak to friends and the police in hospital a few hours after the fall, which happened at about 1 a.m., sources said.

The teenager is in Malta learning English and was staying at the Relax Inn Hotel in Halel Street, Buġibba.

The police were treating the fall as an accident, the sources said.

On Thursday night, the boy climbed down into his friends’ third-floor room via his balcony, one floor above. He opted for the same route when heading back. This time, however, luck was not on his side and he fell into an internal courtyard of the hotel.

The boy was taken to hospital where it was established that he suffered serious injuries, mainly broken bones but, luckily, was not critical. He was kept in hospital for further tests and observation.

In a similar case with a more tragic outcome, a year ago, a 14-year-old German boy died when he fell from an eighth-floor hotel room in Paceville. A month earlier, a 36-year-old Finn fell off the balcony of his Hilton hotel room to the marina below and was critically injured.

In July 2010, a 15-year-old Russian girl fell five storeys to her death as she was attempting to jump from her balcony to her friend’s room at a hotel in St Paul’s Bay.