New mum died after being 'cut in half' by a lift as she was transported on a stretcher

Rocio Cortes Nunez is said to have been killed as she was transported on a stretcher between the second and third floors of a hospital. Photo / Supplied

A 26-year-old woman who had just given birth reportedly died after being cut in half in a shocking hospital lift tragedy.

Rocío Cortés Núñez is said to have been killed as she was transported on a stretcher between the second and third floors of the Valme Hospital in Seville, southern Spain, the Daily Mail reports.

She was being taken to a maternity unit after waking up following a C-section.

Her baby was said to have been with her when the tragedy happened but is said to have been unharmed.

She is also a mother to two other daughters, aged three and four, according to Spanish newspaper El Correo.

The lift is understood to have started moving upwards before the stretcher was fully in following a suspected mechanical failure with the automatic lift door.

Local reports said the patient had literally been divided into two in the horrific accident, at around 2.30pm today.

Police and firefighters rushed to the scene along with duty medics but could nothing to save her life.

Local reports said firefighters took two hours to reach her mauled body after her head was trapped between the lift frame and roof as it started moving upwards and her feet left dangling in the lift shaft.

The victim's brother-in-law David Gaspar, described his brother, the victim's husband, as "devastated".

He told Europa Press: "It's incredible. We still don't believe them."

He added: "Something has to be done. This cannot go unpunished."

An investigation, coordinated by an investigating magistrate, is now underway.

Virgen de Valme Hospital is a public hospital and the place where Andalucia's regional president Susana Diaz gave birth to her baby boy in July 2015.