A grandmother battled in vain to save her 18-month-old granddaughter after the baby's buggy caught fire in the kitchen of her home, an inquest heard yesterday.
Chloe O'Sullivan died from the burns she received after her pram went on fire in front of an open-flame coal fire in the house in Ardagh, Co Limerick.
The Dublin City Coroner's Court heard Ms Patricia O'Sullivan was minding the baby and her brother and sister on November 22nd last when the accident occurred.
The grandmother said she had placed the buggy in front of the fire as Chloe had taken her socks off. There was a clothes horse to the left of the fire place, with duvet covers and sheets on it.
Ms O'Sullivan said: "I threw one shovel of coal on the fire; it was not a big fire. I went upstairs to go to the toilet and I forgot about the fire guard; I left the fire guard to the right of it. Only a short time later I heard Chloe and it didn't sound like her usual cry."
As she came down the stairs she saw smoke, and ordered Eric and another granddaughter, Christina, outside.
She pulled the hood of the buggy, which was on fire, as far back as she could, and lifted baby Chloe out and placed her on the back step. "I'm not sure what happened; she had a knack of pulling jumpers off the clothes horse."
Chloe's mother, Margaret, wanted to find out if the clothes horse or the buggy had caught fire first. The inquest heard that Garda Michael Houlihan, the scene-of-crimes examiner, was unable to tell which had caught fire first as the burnt buggy had been thrown outside.
Garda John Meade, of Newcastle West station, said when he arrived on the scene the ambulance had taken Chloe away. The baby was transferred to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, where she died the following day.
Dr Brian Farrell passed a verdict of accidental death, and expressed his condolences to the O'Sullivan family.