World Scene: Freak Accident

Girl dies in washing machine

A four-year-old Californian girl who climbed into a washing machine died after her 15-month-old brother turned it on by accident, sheriff's officials said on Tuesday.

Orange County sheriff's and coroner's investigators said the girl died from blunt force trauma after being thrown around inside the front-loading machine for around two minutes. Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said the controls to the machine were around 20 inches off the ground, close enough for the boy to reach.