AUSTIN (TIP): A five-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after she became trapped in a washing machine in an American launderette. The child, who has not been named, was churned inside the drum for several minutes as it started its cycle on Tuesday.

An employee at Le’s Washeteria cut the electricity supply when the alarm was raised and managed to get her out, ABC reported. Police said the girl climbed into the machine in Pasadena, Texas, while the woman she was with was not looking. The customer had been unable to get the machine to work and had gone to find a different washer. It was unclear how the door managed to close and lock the girl inside but the spin cycle was activated for several minutes before the woman noticed what had happened.

Vance Mitchell, from Pasadena Police, told Fox News: “Unfortunately she spun around in that washing machine for several minutes and apparently it was on high speed. “She was tumbling pretty fast in there.”One person walked by and said they saw something flopping around in there they thought it was just a dress or something because it was moving pretty fast.

“The child was airlifted to hospital as a precaution but here injuries were not said to be lifethreatening. Police are treating it as an accident.In 2010 a baby died in the US after being put into a washing machine with a pile of laundry for 40 minutes. Two girls aged two and four also died in China last year after their parents claimed they climbed inside and accidentally switched their machine on before shutting the door.