A British toddler was fighting for her life today after a barman at a hotel in Cyprus accidentally mixed cleaning fluid in her orange juice, police said.
Staff at Nicosia's Makarios Hospital children's ward said the two-year-old girl was in a critical but stable condition and was connected to a respirator.
The toddler, who was on holiday with her parents in the southern coastal resort of Limassol, suffered burns to her oesophagus on Saturday after sipping the juice laced with cleaning fluid, police said in a statement.
The child's 55-year-old father had ordered water-diluted orange juice from the hotel barman.
The identities of the child and her father were not released.
Police said it was unclear how the poison got into the drink, but it appeared the barman may have confused a refilled water bottle containing the colourless, odorless cleaning fluid for water.
The father was treated in hospital after drinking some of the orange juice and later released, police said.
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