Search for mother of little girl who fell from balcony

POLICE were last night looking for the mother of a seven-year-old girl who fell from a hotel balcony on the Spanish island of Majorca.

The child is in critical condition after being found on an office roof early yesterday morning. She fell five floors — about 10m — from a balcony at the Hotel Samoa in Calas de Majorca, on the east coast of the island. She is reported to have undergone a three-hour operation after sustaining a ruptured liver, broken jaw and head injuries, but this could not be confirmed.

A woman at the hotel confirmed that a fall happened, but said she could give no more details.

Humphrey Carter, a local journalist in Majorca, said police are looking for the girl’s mother, who seems to have disappeared.

“Police are still searching for her 45-year-old mother and her father has told police that she has been behaving strangely since they arrived on holiday.

“It’s very difficult to figure out what happened.

“The police are treating it as a serious incident and trying to track the mum down and look after the little girl in hospital.

“We’ve been told she was taken to the Manacor Hospital for immediate medical attention, but has now been transferred to the Son Dureta Hospital.”

The Son Dureta Hospital is in the island’s capital, Palma, about 60km from the hotel.

Police said they have begun an investigation but until they found the mother they “would not be speculating on what’s happened”.

Mr Carter said the family had two rooms at the hotel. One was shared by the father of the family and two boys, and the other by the girl and her mother.

He said: “It looks like the mother was at the hotel when the girl fell and has disappeared since then.”

A hospital spokesman described her condition as “very serious”, but said her father had asked medics not to give out any more details until this morning at least.

British media cited reports that the girl had been named as Gianna Cooper and her mother as Sara Cooper, 45. Police would not confirm this.

A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office later confirmed that the girl was in a critical condition in hospital, but gave no further details.