BEIJING - AN ANGRY crowd in south-west China beat a suicidal man who threatened to jump off a ledge with his two-year-old daughter, state media reported Thursday.

More than 100 people attacked the man, 34-year-old Hu Binjun, after he had dangled his daughter from an eighth-floor window in the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan province, according to the China Daily.

'He deserved the beating because he was so inhumane to his own child,' said a woman at the scene, according to the report.

The incident happened on Tuesday morning following a fight between Mr Hu and his wife over his alleged drug use, the English-language newspaper said.

When firefighters got close to the window, Hu went inside his flat but left the child upside down on a ledge outside the window, where she was rescued by a fireman.

The beating occurred after police took him outside, the report said, without saying how badly he was injured. -- AFP