A TODDLER fell into a pool and started breathing again 40 minutes after she was declared dead, doctors in Orange, California, said.

A little girl who fell into a pool and started breathing again 40 minutes after she was declared dead has suffered a severe and probably irreversible brain injury, doctors said.

A TODDLER who was revived nearly two hours after she was believed to have drowned and 40 minutes after doctors had declared her dead was responding to touch and sound on Saturday, hospital officials said.