A girl of three was fighting for life last night after falling four storeys from a Primark escalator.

The youngster plunged 100ft from the shop's second floor to the lower ground floor through the gap between the up and down stairways.

One report said she trapped her hand and was dragged over the moving handrail. She is critically ill in hospital with broken bones and serious internal injuries.

The incident happened at chain's giant store in Liverpool. Paul Donnelly, 15, saw the girl fall. He said: "I thought it was a dropped bag. Then I realised it was a child.

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"She hit the floor. It was so horrible I thought I was going to faint."

Witness Lyndsey Wilcox, 30, added: "I heard an almighty scream and saw the body lying on the basement floor. She was not moving. Then the mother arrived wailing in grief. She was uncontrollable."

Police closed the store as the child was taken to Royal Liverpool Hospital. She was last night transferred to the intensive care unit at Alder Hey Children's Hospital. Primark said: We're shocked and and doing all we can to assist the investigation.