An autistic child in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, died after falling from the balcony of his family's fifth-floor apartment.

According to media reports, the boy had been sent home by Guanhua Yucai School, a private school in the city's Bao'an district, on Saturday afternoon for biting a classmate on the hand.

When he returned to his family's apartment, his mother locked him in his room and went to the school to discuss the incident with teachers, a spokesman for the Shenzhen Autism Society, who knows the family, said on Wednesday.