Mother 'cut in half' by lift while on stretcher after giving birth at hospital in Spain

This is the first picture of a new mother who died when she was “cut in half” by a lift as she was transported on a stretcher in a Spanish hospital.

Rocío Cortés Núñez, 26, is said to have been killed as she was transported between the second and third floors of the Valme Hospital in Seville, southern Spain.

The housewife was being taken to a maternity unit having just given birth to a girl via caesarean section.

Ms Núñez, who also had daughters aged three and four was killed when the doors malfunctioned after a hospital porter tried to change lift, according to her relatives.

Her baby was said to have been with her when the tragedy happened but is said to have been unharmed.

Her family told a local paper the porter had gone to change lifts after the door opened and closed twice without anything happening - before it started moving upwards and he was able to pull the stretcher with the new mother on it to safety.

Initial reports said the patient had been divided into two in the horrific accident, at around 2.30pm on Sunday. Her exact injuries have not yet been confirmed.

Police and firefighters rushed to the scene along with duty medics but could do nothing to save her life.

Brother-in-law David Gaspar said: “It’s incredible. We still can’t believe what’s happened. Something has to happen. This cannot go unpunished.”

He said the victim’s husband, his brother ,was “devastated.”

Local reports said firefighters took two hours to reach her body after her head was trapped between the lift frame and roof as it started moving upwards and her feet left dangling in the lift shaft.

Regional health minister Marina Alvarez called the accident “quick, unusual and tragic”.

She said the lift had undergone checks on August 12 and announced an immediate investigation.

Virgen de Valme Hospital is a public hospital and the place where Andalucia’s regional president Susana Diaz gave birth to her baby boy in July 2015.

Ms Núñez‘s new born baby has been transferred to the Children’s Hospital of Virgen del Rocío in the same city, according to reports.