Doctors warn of toy danger

Doctors last night warned parents about a new toy craze that left a baby dead and a young girl critically ill. Both children accidentally swallowed small balloons that are being sold to increasing numbers of children as "water bombs".

In the first of the two incidents in Bradford, West Yorkshire, a six- month-old girl died after one of the balloons became trapped in her throat. Eleven days later, in the same city, a seven-year-old girl sucked the water bomb down her throat after apparently trying to blow it up as if it were a balloon.

The girl was on a life support machine in the intensive care unit of Bradford Royal Infirmary yesterday.