An investigation has begun into how a ten-month-old girl, feared drowned in the Thames, was wrongly pronounced dead by hospital staff.

It was believed that the child had died after she fell in during an outing to feed the ducks with her mother and three-year-old sister.

She was airlifted to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, but after efforts to resuscitate her, doctors declared her dead. Police confirmed the tragedy at 11am, more than an hour after officers were first called to the scene on the towpath at Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, yesterday morning.

A faint heartbeat was discovered later, and the girl remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Neither the hospital nor the police would give details of how long it took hospital staff to discover that the child was still alive, nor could they confirm how the child got into difficulty in the water.

A spokeswoman for John Radcliffe Hospital said: “A full paediatric clinical team immediately attempted to resuscitate the child in the emergency department of the John Radcliffe.

“After a lengthy period of resuscitation, a unanimous decision was made by the clinical team to stop treatment, in the best interests of the child.

“Subsequently, the child showed very fragile signs of life. This does occasionally happen and the child was moved to the paediatric intensive care unit of the hospital. She remains there in an extremely serious and critical condition.”

The incident happened at a spot popular with day-trippers and narrowboat enthusiasts because of its beautiful scenery and country pubs. A series of weirs and locks create strong currents that have made it a notorious accident spot.

Despite its beauty, the river at Goring has proved deceptively dangerous in the past. In the worst tragedy, in 1674, 60 people drowned when their boat capsized in a lock.

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