Thirteen-year-old boy killed in Turkey after sacrificial goat falls on him from six floor apartment building

The schoolboy was playing with his friends on the street below

A man holds a ram that will be sacrificed for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, at a market in Istanbul (OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

A Turkish boy has been killed in a tragic accident after a sacrificial goat jumped off the roof of his nearby apartment building, landing on him in the street below.

Heval Yildirim was playing with his friends during this weekend’s Eid al-Adha festival when the accident occurred, the Daily Mirror reported.

Heval’s father Mehmet brought the goat and storied it on the roof because there was not enough room in their apartment.

He told police that the terrified animal had vaulted the fence of its small roof enclosure before it fell.

Heval was taken to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.

"I am devastated but what more can I say? In fact there is nothing at all to say. Even the prosecutor has said this incident could be the first of its kind around the world," Mehmet Yildirim was quoted as saying.

The state prosecutor has described the case as “unprecedented”.

The slaughtering of a goat, sheep or other sacrificial animal is integral to the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha. Hundreds of thousands of animals will have been killed and then specially prepared for the festival which took place on Saturday.