The two-year-old daughter of one of Britain's richest men is found hanged on a blind cord by her mother at their £12 million home

Tragedy: Tycoon Morten Hoegh's daughter Alexandra, 2, was found hanged in her cot after getting tangled in blind cords

The two-year-old daughter of one of Britain's richest men has died after being found hanged on a blind cord in her cot. Alexandra Lucy Hoegh was discovered by her horrified mother Dana, who ran out of their £12million Notting Hill family home screaming: 'please help, the baby's not breathing'.

The tragic toddler is the daughter of Norwegian shipping and oil tycoon Morten Hoegh, who runs his multi-billion pound company between homes in London and Oslo. Paramedics rushed to the scene in west London but the toddler died on the way to the hospital on Monday. Her death highlights the danger of blind cords, as the toddler is one of at least ten children who have died in this way since 2010.

Police say Alexandra probably got tangled in the strings and went into cardiac arrest, adding they are treated her death as non-suspicious. Her 37-year-old mother Dana, who is from the United States, was taken to hospital in shock. Mr Hoegh, 39, is the chairman of a multi-billion pound oil and gas shipping company based in Norway - Hoegh LNG. He is officially one of Britain’s richest men with an estimated fortune of £175million and appears on the Sunday Times Rich List. The couple also have a six-year-old son, Morten and a daughter, Henrietta, 5.

 

Suspended in cot: Alexandra Lucy, 2, was found hanged on a blind cord by her mother Dana Hoegh at their home in Notting Hill

A neighbour told The Sun: ‘She (Mrs Hoegh) didn’t know what to do. It’s a real tragedy. ‘The mother came out into the street screaming. ‘She said the baby was dying and she wanted someone to help save its life. An ambulance arrived and paramedics rushed in. ‘When I came to the door there was an ambulance outside.’

A family friend said: ‘Dana and Morten are a wonderful couple. ‘Alexandra was the sweetest girl you could meet. ‘I can hardly believe this has happened.’ A force spokesman said: 'Police were called by the London Ambulance Service to a Notting Hill address shortly after 2.25pm on Monday following reports of an injured infant. 'On arrival, officers found a two-year-old girl who was treated by paramedics and taken to a west London hospital. She was pronounced dead at 3.17pm. 'A post-mortem at Great Ormond Street Hospital is scheduled to take place in due course.'

Shocking figures show there have been at least 22 deaths caused by blind cords since 1999, with half of the cases occurring since the start of 2010. The tragic statistics prompted safety campaigners to call for the blinds to be banned.  Safety experts have said that about two children a year are killed by looped blind cords in Britain. Sheila Merrill, home safety manager for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: 'A loop which hangs at waist height for an adult could slip around the neck of a young child if he or she falls. 'Or, if the loop is at floor level, it could become wrapped around the neck of a baby who is crawling. 'There have also been cases in which babies have been accidentally strangled by cord loops hanging into their cots. 'Our advice is to tie looped blind cords up out of the reach of young children or to cut the loop so it hangs in two strands.'




Daily Mail UK

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