A 21-year-old musician survived a fall from a New York City balcony in which his head was impaled on a spiked metal fence.

Police said Nicholas Blossom was drunk at a party in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood when he fell from a third-floor balcony at around 4am on Saturday.

He landed head first on the fence of the second-floor balcony of an adjoining building.

Rescuers used an electric saw to detach Blossom, who plays drums in a rock band called Alaska Alaska, from the fence.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was said to be in a stable condition.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.