Toddler survives 14 hours trapped in freezing river

Officials respond at the crash scene. Photo / AP

An 18-month-old girl continued her recovery yesterday after being strapped into a child seat for up to 14 hours after her mother's car plunged into a freezing Utah river.

Toddler Lily Groesbeck was discovered hanging upside down in the upturned red Dodge Caliber car on Saturday afternoon, suspended just above the frigid waters of the Spanish Fork River. Rescuers found her mother, 25-year-old Lynn Groesbeck, dead in the driver's seat.

Police officers who plucked her from the car said yesterday they heard someone calling for help. Officer Jared Warner, said: "We're not sure where that voice came from", after Officer Bryan Dewitt was reported to have recalled cries of "help me, help me".

Lily is being treated at a Salt Lake City hospital, where her condition was upgraded yesterday from critical to critical but stable. "She is doing remarkably well considering the circumstances. The doctors have been hopeful so far," Lynn Groesbeck's sister, Jill Sanderson, said. "We would like to express our appreciation to the Spanish Fork rescue team for saving the baby's life."

Officials respond at the crash scene. Photo / AP

Spanish Fork police said Ms Groesbeck had been visiting her parents in nearby Salem on Friday evening and was thought to be driving home when the accident happened. A man who lives near to the crash scene reportedly heard a noise at around 10.30pm on Friday and went outside to investigate, but spotted nothing unusual.

The car was eventually found at around 12.30pm on Saturday in the river at Spanish Fork, which is approximately 50 miles south of Salt Lake City, by a man who was fishing. Police said the vehicle had hit a cement barrier on a bridge and been sent tumbling into the river, coming to rest beneath the bridge, where it was hard to see from the road.

During the night the toddler spent trapped in the car, temperatures in the area are believed to have dropped to around freezing. She was rescued by three police officers and four firefighters, who waded into the river to turn the car on its side. All seven emergency personnel were later treated at a hospital for hypothermia.

- Independent