A dramatic video has emerged of firefighters in China rescuing a worker trapped on the part of a broken barrier hanging off the top of a building.

In the footage, captured in Guangdong Province on Sunday, one of the firemen climbs onto the building roof and sends down a safety rope to the man, while his colleges approach him on a scaling ladder to take him back to the ground.

According to local media, two workers were installing a billboard on the building when the rope tied to the protecting barrier broke suddenly. One of them fell off the roof while the other managed to dangle himself in the air.

The rescued worker escaped injuries and his unlucky fellow survived after being hospitalised.