Man lucky to be alive after 6-storey fall

A 22-year-old man has survived a six-storey fall with just broken arms and cuts to his face and head.

It's thought the man was trying to climb from a seventh-floor balcony in a central Sydney apartment block to his own unit's balcony when he fell at 1am (AEDT) on Thursday, police said.

But he slipped and fell onto a first floor structure. The Nine Network said tin sheeting had cushioned his fall.

The man, reported to be an English backpacker, broke both his arms and cut his head and face.

The man is recovering at St Vincent's Hospital.