* Toddler thrown into the river dies after 10-day ordeal
Sun, Mar 21, 2010, 12:09 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 20, Colombo: A toddler who was rescued after being thrown into the Kalu Ganga by his mother died today after being on a life-supporting system for ten days at the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital in Colombo.

A hospital source said the two-year old child died at 11.40 this morning despite their best efforts to save him. The child suffered from breathing complications after drowning even with the life support system, the hospital sources said.

The child's mother has tossed the toddler into the river as she couldn't care for him. The child was saved by a truck driver.

The doctors said his prognosis was not good as the child had not been given proper first aid since the rescuers were not trained in them.

The 30-year old single mother, who has four other children, lived in a village for tsunami victims in Panadura and made a living out of selling lottery tickets. She told police that her husband had abandoned her and she faced utmost difficulties caring for her five children.

Her other four children, one boy and three girls were handed over to separate children's homes with a condition of allowing them to unite once a week.