Newborn found alive in coffin

Analia Bouter from Resistencia â€" which means ENDURANCE in Spanish, Argentina, discovered her daughter who had been declared stillborn alive after insisting on opening her coffin up to say goodbye in the hospital morgue .

Analia Bouter said: 'I don't know who is to blame, and I'm not thinking about it at this moment.

"The joy of knowing she's alive is covering every other feeling. I'm a Christian, and I believe this was a miracle of God."

Medics at Perrando de Resistencia Hospital in Chaco province had told Analia her baby, who was three months premature, was still born and had no pulse. Then they told her she had died shortly after birth because she was too small to survive. Analia was sedated during the labour.

She and her husband then headed home with a death certificate before deciding to return to see their daughter's body.

The casket was nailed shut but they prised it open only to find their baby breathing and stretching inside.

When the tiny tot, likened to a "bottle of ice" after 12 hours in a refrigerated drawer, let out a cry Analia said: "I fell to my knees.

"We went to the morgue, and they showed us the casket nailed closed. We wanted to take a photo of our daughter.

"My husband managed to open the drawer, where we found her wrapped in a white sheet and saw her tiny hand touch her face. We heard a cry and she was alive.

"She spent 12 hours in the freezing cold of that morgue. I saw for myself the ice on her body."

The couple originally intended to call their fifth child Liliana Abigail but have since changed her name to Luz Milagros, which means "Miracle Light".

Rafael Sabatinelli, the province's deputy health secretary, described the situation on Tuesday last week as "unfortunate".

The medical staff involved have been suspended while officials investigate.

Hospital's director Jose Luis Meirino said hypothermia could have slowed her vital signs.

He said: "At the moment we have no explanation. The baby was attended to by obstetricians, gynaecologists and a neonatologist. They all reached the same conclusion, that this girl was stillborn."