A TWO-year-old British girl was this morning in hospital in Cyprus after being served detergent mixed with orange juice.

Doctors said Annabelle Rhodes, who was on a family holiday, was in "critical but stable" condition.

The incident happened at the four-star Curium Palace hotel on Saturday evening. Annabelle suffered internal burns to her mouth, throat and upper respiratory organs and has been connected to a respirator.

Medics at the hospital warned she could suffer some permanent damage.

Head of paediatrics at Makarios children's hospital Andreas Hadjidemtriou said the girl was put on a tube because her upper breathing channels had closed.

"From here on in we have to wait and see the consequences of this incident on the little girl," said Hadjidemetriou.

The mistake occurred when the 55-year-old father Mark ordered a watered-down orange squash for his daughter from the hotel bar.

Police believe a plastic water bottle was refilled with the detergent and left in the kitchen without any note warning staff of its content.

"It appears the barman used a container which he thought contained water but was in fact dishwasher detergent, " said a police spokeswoman.

"We are treating this as an accident as the person wasn't to know there was a different liquid in the plastic water bottle, " she added.

However, police have not ruled out making any arrests on the grounds of negligence. Mark Rhodes declined to comment saying:"This is a very personal matter please leave us alone," is all he could say.

The odourless and colourless liquid consumed has been sent to a state laboratory for testing but reports suggested it was nitric acid.