KEY POINTS:
A mother yesterday found her 6-year-old daughter lying on the kitchen floor with life-threatening injuries after being accidentally shot with an air rifle by her 10-year-old son.
The pellet fired by her brother ricocheted off a rock and penetrated the girl's chest, scraping her heart.
Distraught mother Maree Scott called an ambulance after the accident - but roads to the family's rural Northland home were still cut off by flooding.
Tayla, 6, was taken by helicopter in a critical condition to Whangarei Hospital.
There, her condition was stabilised and she was flown to Auckland for surgery.
Tayla was still critically ill in hospital in Auckland this morning with her family at her bedside.
Speaking outside Auckland City Hospital, Ms Scott said she found her daughter lying on the kitchen floor, in shock, with chest injuries.
It is understood the girl was unresponsive and virtually unconscious when medical help arrived at the family home.
Ms Scott said her son, Sean, had been firing the air rifle at trees about 11am.
One of the pellets ricocheted off a rock, then hit Tayla in the chest, said Ms Scott. "It really was just a tragic accident."
Sean went for help and Tayla managed to make her way inside.
Ms Scott said she "freaked out", then called an ambulance.
But their house in Waikare, a rural area near Kawakawa, north of Whangarei, was cut off because a bridge had been washed out in flooding on Thursday.
Sean ran to a neighbour trained in first aid, and air rescuers - first the Northland Emergency Services Trust, then the Lion Foundation Air Ambulance - came to their aid.
Ms Scott said she was afraid of flying but had no hesitation in getting on the helicopter.
"There was only one thing I was thinking about," she said.
In Auckland, Tayla was wheeled straight from the helicopter into an operating theatre.
Ms Scott stepped off the aircraft clutching a child's toy.
Northland Emergency Services Trust chairman John Bain said Tayla was expected to make a full recovery.
Far North police area Commander Inspector Chris Scahill said police were investigating, and officers spent yesterday afternoon at the scene.
