'Back from dead' baby fights for life

A baby girl pronounced dead after falling into a river is fighting for her life after medics detected a faint heartbeat.

The ten-month-old girl is in a critical condition after falling into the River Thames, near Goring, in Oxfordshire.

Police said her mother and three-year-old sister also entered the water and were taken to hospital for checks.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "The ten-month-old girl was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, where she was initially thought to be dead.

"However, a very faint heartbeat was then discovered. She remains in hospital in a critical condition."

Sergeant Graham Pink, of Thames Valley Police, said: "The child was pronounced dead at the John Radcliffe Hospital - before a very faint heartbeat was discovered.

"The initial report was that the child had died. We put a statement out saying the child was dead and we would not have done that unless we had been told she was dead."

Police said they believe the child fell off a bank into the river near Ferry Lane in Goring.

A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service said the baby was unconscious when crews arrived and was airlifted to hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said she "could not comment" on police suggestions that medics from the trust first declared the girl dead, then realised she was alive.

She said: "A faint heartbeat was discovered as doctors tried to resuscitate her. She is now in a critical condition."

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